Danny Phantom of the Opera
by DPRRluvJ13MM
Summary: Danny is given the role of the Phantom in his school play and is later sent to do the part at the Opera Populaire itself. What will happen when he meets the real Angel of Music?
1. Chapter 1

_**Well, I'm obsessed with Danny Phantom AND Phantom of the Opera so I figured I'd write a crossover with them! Again, just done by Alex! Hope everyone likes it and NO flames please!**_

**Danny Phantom of the Opera**

**Chapter 1: Sign Up!**

"Alright class, stop talking," Lancer said. His class was doing what they normally did, talked. Half the class stopped talking but the rest of them whispered.

"Alright, before we begin our lesson, I have an announcement to make, our school will be performing the _Phantom of the Opera_, anyone who wants to be in the show can find the sign up sheet outside the auditorium," Lancer announced.

People who had stopped whispering started to about the play, those who had been whispering had changed whatever subject they were on to the play.

"Are you kidding? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Danny muttered to himself.

"Come on Danny, lighten up man, it could be fun," Tucker said. "Come on Tuck, the _Phantom of the Opera_? I mean, seriously, what kind of ghost haunts an opera house?" Danny asked.

"Apparently you've never seen the play, the phantom's not a ghost, but the mask he wears makes him look like one," Sam said.

"Oh joy, a guy in a mask who wanders around pretending to be a ghost, how exciting," Danny said sarcastically. He didn't see what could be so great about a dumb play.

"It is quit thrilling Mr. Fenton, in fact, I think you would make a good phantom," Lancer said.

Danny froze in his seat. "Uh, w-what makes you say that?" Danny asked faking a smile as he started to sweat.

"Hmmm….I'm not sure, but I think you would, hope to see you at auditions, Mr. Fenton," Lancer said walking back to his desk.

Danny gulped, turned to his friends, and said: "Okay, I don't know whether that was a complement, or I've just been insulted."

"That's up to you dude," Tucker said. "Why?" Danny asked. "You'd have to know the play to know why," Sam said.

Danny didn't pay attention for the rest of the class. As much as he didn't want to audition for the play, a little voice inside his head was shouting at him to do so.

At the end of class, Danny found himself walking to the sign up sheet outside the auditorium. He started at it for a while and almost wrote his name down when he heard Tucker's voice call: "You signing up?

Danny wheeled his head around and saw Tucker and Sam standing behind him, glaring at him. "Uh, I don't know, I don't think I'd do any good," Danny said crossing his arms and staring at his feet.

"Come on Danny, you'll do great, I know you will," Sam said. Danny sighed. "I don't know, what if I goof up in front of everyone?" he asked.

"Hey, it can't be any worse then me," Tucker said. "He has a point there," Sam said. "See? I-why do you feel the need to do that?" Tucker asked glaring at Sam who merely smiled.

"Well, I guess, but if I mess up this'll be all your faults," Danny said starting to write his name down.

"We know," Sam and Tucker said rolling their eyes. Once Danny had written his name, he turned to Tucker and Sam.

They looked at him for a second until Tucker said: "What?" "Aren't you two signing up?" Danny asked.

"No! Drama's not my thing, I do like the play though," Sam said. "And you both know why I'm not," Tucker said.

Before Sam had the chance to say anything, Tucker pointed his finger at her and said: "Not a word."

"Well you could've told me that!" Danny snapped. He was about to erase his name when Tucker said: "I don't think you can scribble on that."

Before Danny even asked, he realized he had just written his name in sharpie. "Ugh! Great, now I'll be alone with a bunch of drama geeks," Danny said.

"They're not drama geeks! Besides, Dash and Paulina are trying out, and so are a bunch of other kids," Sam said.

"You're kidding!" Danny said looking at the sign up sheet. Sure enough, Dash and Paulina had written their names on the sheet.

Danny sighed again and said: "Alright, I guess I'll do it." He and his friends walked off to their next class.

As soon as the bell rang and everything in the halls were out of sight of students, a black gloved hand ripped the sheet off the bulletin board. Unseen eyes stared down at Danny's name. After a while, the hand slowly pinned the sheet back up and disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Auditions!**

The next day, Danny walked to the auditorium with his friends. "Are you sure I should do this?" Danny asked shaking.

"Don't worry Danny, you'll do fine, and besides, it's not the end of the world if you don't get the lead," Sam said.

"I don't care if I get in the play, I care if everyone starts laughing at me," Danny said. "No one's gonna laugh at you Danny, now if I was there, then everyone would laugh," Tucker said.

"Actually, they'd be covering their ears," Sam said. "Don't push it," Tucker said flatly. "Well, I'm going in, if I don't make it out, I want you guys to have this," Danny said handing Tucker and Sam the thermos.

"You're not going to die Danny," Sam said. "But while you're in there, we'll kick ghost bootie for you," Tucker said snatching the thermos out of Danny's hand.

Danny took a deep breath and went in the auditorium. "Think he'll be okay in there?" Sam asked. After a short pause, she and Tucker said: "No!"

Danny sat down and looked around. Half the school showed up. Lancer stood up on the stage and said: "People, may I have your attention please, alright, now when I call you up, say your name and the song you're going to be singing," Lancer said.

Danny's eyes widened. He didn't realize he was supposed to have a song already prepared. He sank in his seat and tried to not make eye contact with anyone.

"Alright, let's begin," Lancer said going to his seat in the audience. He looked at the sign up sheet and called: "Dash Baxter."

Dash ran up on stage and said: "I'm Dash Baxter, and I'll be singing _Year 3000_." Dash then began to sing a somewhat incorrect version of the song:

_I've been to the year 3000_

_Not much changed but we live under water_

_And your great granddaughter's_

_Doin' good_

"THANK YOU, Mr. Baxter, you can sit down," Lancer said uncovering his ears and writing something down on the sheet.

Dash smiled and sat back down. "Alright, Paulina…." Lancer started. The moment he started saying her name, Paulina bolted to the stage and said: "I'm Paulina, and I'll be singing _Girlfriend_." She began to speak the song as if it were a cheer and failed herself around the stage as if she was leading a pep rally:

_Hey, Hey, you, you_

_I don't like your girlfriend _

_No way, no way_

_I think you need a new one_

_Hey, hey, you, you_

_I could be your girlfriend_

As Paulina sang, Lancer twitched rapidly. "Alright Paulina, you can take your seat," he said writing something down. Paulina bolted back to her seat. "I'll totally get the lead," she boasted.

After a few hours later, Lancer sighed and said: "Alright, our last auditioner is Danny Fenton," Lancer said.

Danny gulped and walked slowly up to the stage. He tried to ignore everyone staring at him and said: "My name's Danny Fenton and I'll be singing….uh…." He froze. He didn't even know a song off the top of his head he could sing.

"Well Mr. Fenton, what will you be singing?" Lancer asked. "I-I don't really know," Danny said starting to sweat.

Lancer sighed and said: "Alright, sing this, I'll play the track," Lancer said handing Danny a sheet of paper and pulling out a boom box. Danny stared at the sheet of paper. At the top where the words: _Phantom of the Opera_. Below it were a series of lyrics.

When Lancer started the song, Danny sang:

_Sing once again with me_

_A strange duet_

_My power over you _

_Grows stronger yet_

_And thought you turn from me_

_To glance behind_

_The Phantom of the Opera is there_

_Inside your mind_

Danny almost dropped the lyrics from the shock of hearing his own voice. Everyone stared at him in awe. Lancer didn't take his eyes of Danny, he didn't even blink.

"Uh, I'm…done," Danny said not certain if he should have even spoken. Lancer stopped the song and said: "Very good Mr. Fenton, you may take your seat."

Danny practically ran to his seat and Lancer snapped back to reality. "Alright people, the cast list will be posted tomorrow, remember, even if you don't get a part, you tried your best," he said.

Everyone got up and started leaving, but Danny ran out the door before anyone had the chance to get up.

"Hey Danny, how'd it go?" Sam asked. "And you can have this back now," Tucker said handing Danny the thermos.

Danny snatched it, still in an advanced state of shock. "Hey Danny, do you know who the last singer was? We couldn't hear the name," Tucker said.

"That was me," Danny said still in a dreamlike state. Sam and Tucker stared at him in awe.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Danny asked. "That was you?" Sam asked. "Uh, yeah," Danny said. Danny started sweating, was he really that bad?

"Danny….YOU WERE AMAZING!" Sam cried. "What?!" Danny asked. "Dude, since when did you learn to sing?" Tucker asked.

"Are you guys kidding, I wasn't that good," Danny said. "Yes you were, you were the best one!" Tucker said.

"How do you know?" Danny asked. "We could hear everyone sing," Sam said. "And you were definitely the best, I'd be surprised if you didn't get the lead," Tucker said.

"But what if I don't want the lead?!" Danny asked heatedly. "Then the play will stink!" Tucker said.

Danny sighed. He didn't believe he was any good, besides, these were his friends, of course they would think he was good. Danny walked off without another word and Tucker and Sam went after him.

After Lancer had left the auditorium, it was completely empty, except for a shadowy figure.

It emerged from behind the final row in the auditorium and found the cast list Lancer had left on accident.

The list followed:

_Christine-Paulina_

_Raoul-Kwan_

_The Phantom-Danny Fenton_

The figure paused it's gaze on Danny's name. It placed the list down and disappeared backstage. On a small, messy desk, the figure pulled out to sheets of paper. On one, the figure wrote:

_**Dear whomever it may concern,**_

_**I have noticed that your production of the Phantom of the Opera lacks an important role, the Phantom himself. But do not fear, for I have found a brilliant singer to play the role, his name is Danny Fenton.**_

_**No response is needed, I will simply send the boy to the Opera Populaire and let you see for yourself. Thank you and good day.**_

_**O.G.**_

On the other paper, the figure wrote:

_**Dear Mr. Lancer,**_

_**A student has recently told me of an amazing performance by a boy named Danny Fenton. As I'm sure you know, the Opera Populaire has been rebuilt to hold the performance of the Phantom of the Opera. **_

_**I would like very much to meet this boy and put him in our production of the show, please send the boy as soon as you receive this, I would prefer no response. Thank you and good day.**_

_**O.G.**_

The figure carefully put the sheets of paper in two separate envelopes. It's long black cape wiped through the auditorium quickly and the figure disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Something Impossible!**

The next day, everyone went to look at the cast list. "YES! I just knew I would get the lead," Paulina cried triumphantly.

Everyone fused over the cast list, the only one who remained silent was Danny, who was in almost as much shock as he had been the previous day.

"So Danny, did you get a part?" Tucker asked. Danny said nothing. Sam looked at the cast list. "WHAT?! Dash got the Phantom? Is Mr. Lancer insane?!" she cried.

"YES! I knew if I was confident I'd get the part!" Dash cried. Everyone started at him in shock.

"I mean, heh, I'm too cool to not have gotten the lead," Dash said. Everyone went back to fussing about the cast list and Sam said: "What is Mr. Lancer's problem?! You didn't even get in the show!"

"I know! And you were the best one," Tucker said. Danny pointed to the very bottom of the cast list. It read: _Danny Fenton, please go to Mr. Lancer's office._

"Whoa, ouch," Tucker said. "Did you do something wrong?" Sam asked. "I-I don't know," Danny said finally finding his voice.

"We'll miss ya buddy," Tucker said patting Danny's shoulder. "Tucker!" Sam hissed. "What?!" Tucker asked.

"It's okay, I'll be fine, bye guys," Danny said heading for Mr. Lancer's office. "Dead man walking," Tucker said. Sam punched Tucker in the arm and walked off.

When Danny reached Lancer's office, he slowly opened the door and said: "Uh, Mr. Lancer, the cast list said for me to come here."

"Ah yes, Mr. Fenton, take a seat," Lancer said smiling at Danny. Danny sat down nervously.

"Well Mr. Fenton, I'm sure you know how the Opera Populaire was destroyed in the show…" Lancer said.

"Well, actually, I've never even seen the play," Danny said a little shaky. "Yes, well, the opera house from the play has been rebuilt so that the _Phantom of the Opera_ can be performed there," Lancer said.

"Okay," Danny said extremely confused. "According to a letter I recently received, someone from that theater has been told about you," Lancer said.

"Alright, and why is that important?" Danny asked still completely baffled. "You were originally going to play the Phantom in our school's production of the show, but apparently, the Opera Populaire wants you do play that role in their production," Lancer said.

"Meaning?" Danny asked. "You're going to Paris," Lancer said. "WHAT?!" Danny cried almost falling out of the chair.

Outside the office door, Tucker and Sam heard Danny's voice cry out: "WHAT?!" "Man, what'd he do?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, I sure hope he's okay," Sam said. The second she said that, Danny walked out of the office looking dazed and holding a sheet of paper.

"Danny, are you okay?" Sam asked. "What happened?" Tucker asked. "I'm going to Paris," Danny said holding up the sheet of paper.

Sam and Tucker looked at it. It read:

_Danny Fenton will be performing as the Phantom in the production of the Phantom of the opera in the newly rebuilt Opera Populaire._

"Oh my gosh! Danny that's AWESOME!" Sam cried in amazement. "Dude, that rocks!" Tucker cried.

"Uh huh," Danny said looking dizzy. He almost felt like he was about to faint, but he kept his balance.

Once he got home, Jazz bounced out the door and hugged Danny. "Uh, Jazz, is there any particular reason you're showing extreme affection towards me?" Danny asked as Jazz squeezed him tighter, making his question extremely breathy.

"Danny, I'm so proud of you, I can't believe you're going to Paris," Jazz squealed. "Me neither," Danny muttered as Jazz dragged him inside.

"I just got the message from school, come on, let's go tell mom and dad!" Jazz said squealing louder.

Danny followed her into the lab. "Mom, dad, guess what?" Jazz asked. "What is it sweetie?" Maddie asked.

"Is it a ghost?!" Jack cried pulling out a mini ecto gun. "No, better!" Jazz said looking even more excited then she just had.

"It's got nothing to do with ghosts, huh?" Jack asked disappointed. "Sort of," Jazz said. She tugged Danny's arm and said: "Tell 'em Danny!"

"Uh…." Danny didn't know how he would explain it. He held out the paper that Lancer had given him and Maddie took it. She and Jack read it and Maddie cried: "Oh my gosh! Danny I'm so proud of you!"

She threw herself on Danny and Danny said: "Uh, mom, your cracking my ribs." Suddenly, Jack threw himself on his son and said: "You must have really blew them away! I always knew you had talent."

"Isn't it awesome?! Danny's going to be famous!" Jazz said no longer containing her excitement.

"I'm what?" Danny asked as Maddie and Jack let go of him. "This is great!" Maddie said smiling widely.

"Come on Danny, get packed, you've got to leave tomorrow," Jazz said shaking Danny lightly.

"Tomorrow?" Jack asked. "Yeah, the theater wants to see him as soon as they can apparently," Jazz said.

"Well, okay," Jack said. "Why don't you go with him Jazz, to make sure he's alright, we'll need to stay here in case of any ghost emergency," Maddie said.

"Okay, come on Danny!" Jazz said dragging Danny to his room. Danny was so shocked, his feet merely skidded on the ground as Jazz pulled him along. He didn't believe he was that good, he was almost hoping that whoever wanted him there would want him gone just as quickly.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: The Opera Populaire!**

The next morning, Danny woke up bright and early to Jazz's obnoxious squealing and poking to wake him up. He got dressed, ate some breakfast, said good bye to his parents and friends, and left for the airport with Jazz.

"Isn't this great Danny?" Jazz asked enthusiastically. "Yeah," Danny said dryly. "What's wrong with you? This is so awesome! You're actually going to be in one of the most popular shows ever, aren't you excited?" Jazz asked.

"Not really," Danny said. "Why not?" Jazz asked. "Come on Jazz, I can't be _that_ great, and besides, who's going to stop the ghosts?" Danny asked.

"Tucker and Sam can," Jazz said. "But what if they get hurt?" Danny asked. "Danny, don't worry, it'll be fine, besides, I locked up the portal before we left, it's all good," Jazz said.

Danny smiled at his sister and said: "Thanks." "You're welcome, come on, I think they called our flight number!" Jazz said picking up their bags and heading for the plane.

After they boarded the plane and were half way there, a little boy wandered over to Jazz and Danny. "What're you two doing going to Paris?" the boy asked in a childish voice.

"We're…uh…" Danny started. "We're going to the Opera Populaire so Danny can be in the show the _Phantom of the Opera_," Jazz said.

"He-he's the phantom of the opera?" the boy asked shaking a little bit. "No, he's just going to be in the play, don't worry little boy, the phantom of the opera isn't real," Jazz said reassuringly.

In a seat in front of Jazz, a man who had been reading the news paper peered around his chair and shot a disapproving look at Jazz. Jazz was too busy talking to the boy to notice and Danny was staring out the window hoping to ignore Jazz. The man then disappeared back behind his paper.

"Now why don't you get back to your parents, it's not safe to stand on a plane," Jazz said to the child.

"Okay, I was just going back to mom from the bathroom anyway, good luck on the show Mr.," the boy said leaving.

Jazz sat up and looked over at Danny, who looked like he was trying to drown everything out.

"Danny, it's okay, it's nothing to be ashamed of," Jazz said. Danny rolled his eyes and turned to face Jazz.

"What do you mean 'there's nothing to be ashamed of'? It can't be all that wonderful running around on stage with a mask on!" Danny snapped.

"Danny, just give it a shot, if you really don't want to do it, we can go home," Jazz said calmly.

"Would you mind?" Danny asked suddenly looking guilty. "What do you mean?" Jazz asked.

"Would you mind if I didn't want to do it?" Danny asked. "Of course not Danny, it's your decision," Jazz said.

"Thanks Jazz," Danny said feeling a little better. "You're welcome Danny," Jazz said smiling.

After a long flight, they finally reached Paris the next day. As Jazz and Danny got off the plane, the man that had been in front of Jazz rushed off, his long black cape flowing in the breeze as he passed. Neither of them saw his face for he went by so fast.

"Man, that guy seems in a rush," Jazz said. "Paris must be a busy place," Danny said as the man disappeared before Danny could finish speaking.

Suddenly, Jazz tugged on Danny's sleeve and said: "Look!" She pointed to a man holding up a sign that said: **Danny Fenton-Phantom of the Opera.**

Danny and Jazz walked up to him and Jazz said: "Hello." The man looked at them. He had a round face and a thin brown mustache. "Yes," he said in a French accent.

"Uh, this is Danny Fenton," Jazz said introducing Danny. "Ah yes, Mr. Fenton, good to meet you, I'm Gerald, and I will be your director," the man said bowing slightly after shaking Danny's hand.

"Uh, hi! This is my sister Jazz, I hope you don't mind she's here," Danny said. "Oh not at all, the more the merrier, now come along, we best get going," Gerald said.

The two kids followed him out to a long black limousine. "Wow!" Danny said. "Come along now," Gerald said opening the back door. Jazz and Danny slid in and Gerald closed the door.

After a while, they arrived at a large building. "Come on in," Gerald said as they entered. The building was incredible. There was a circle of beige columns with small candle holders on each of them. Golden statues of women were set at the brim of the staircase. Hanging from the windows were scarlet red curtains with gold trimming along the edges.

"This is incredible," Jazz said completely in awe. "Yeah," Danny muttered. He did think the opera house was amazing, but he still wasn't too thrilled being there.

"It is incredible, isn't it? What's even more incredible is they restored it so well, anyway, come with me, I'll bring you to the stage," Gerald said.

He led them to an auditorium that seemed as big as Broadway. There were thousands of seat filling the humungous circular room. Up near the top were small, individual boxes with seats. Danny could've sworn he saw someone looking at him in one of them, but whoever, if Danny had even seen someone, was there has disappeared the moment he realized Danny saw him.

The large red curtain was open and at least a dozen men were talking amongst themselves on the stage. "Who are they?" Jazz asked.

"Others who auditioned for the part of the phantom, but none of them were good enough I'm afraid," Gerald answered bitterly.

Danny noticed that some of the men were looking at him funny. Danny tried not to catch their eyes.

"Everyone!" Gerald announced as he clapped his hands for attention. The men and some women turned in his direction.

"This is Danny Fenton, the one we were told about, " Gerald said introducing Danny. Danny smiled sheepishly. Some people waved and smiled at him but others pretended that they hadn't heard Gerald and looked away from Danny.

"Alright Danny, why don't you get up there and show us your stuff," Gerald said patting Danny on the back.

Danny gulped and walked up to the stage. The men all stared at him from behind and Danny tried his best to pretend they weren't there. As the music started, Danny tried his best to remember the words and started singing:

_Sing once again with me_

_A strange duet_

_My power over you_

_Grows stronger yet_

_And though you turn from me_

_To glance behind_

_The Phantom of the Opera is there_

_Inside your mind_

Danny noticed the music stopped shortly before he finished singing. He looked around to see shocked faces staring at him, including Jazz.

"Uh, that's all," Danny said hoping he could leave. Gerald finally stood up and clapped. Jazz suddenly joined in the clapping. Soon everyone in the theater was clapping.

Danny was in awe. There was no way he was that good. He smiled anyway and was about to get off the stage when he heard a voice saying: "Bravo…brava…bravisma…"

Danny looked up in the box were he could've sworn he saw some one and hoped to see someone there again, but no one was there. He heard the same words repeating again and thought it was coming from the box, but no one was there.

Danny sighed and got off the stage. He decided to forget about the voice and hope that he would be leaving soon.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Rehearsal and the Mirror!**

Later that evening, Jazz left to find a hotel while Danny stayed at the Opera Populaire to rehearse. Danny sat in the audience and a man with bushy white hair and a small white mustache walked up to him.

"Here's your script young man," he said. "Thanks," Danny mumbled. "So you're Danny Fenton, eh?" the man asked.

"Uh, yeah," Danny said. "I'm Bernard, co director, good to meet you," the man said shaking Danny's hand.

"Yeah, good to meet you too," Danny said sheepishly. Bernard smiled and walked off. Danny sighed and flipped through the script.

He saw his lines had already been highlighted for him. Danny didn't even want to try to count how many lines there were, there were at least over twenty five of them. How would he possibly memorize all this? Along with all the songs.

Danny sighed again as he heard Gerald call: "Okay everyone, let's start from page nine!" Danny turned to page nine and saw he wasn't in the scene yet so he stayed in his spot.

A woman who looked at least 21 went up on stage. She had short, brown, curly hair and bright green eyes. "Alright miss Avalon, or should I say, miss _Daae_, you may start," Bernard said.

The woman took a deep breath and sang in a light soprano voice:

_Think of me_

_Think of me fondly _

_When we've said goodbye_

_Remember me_

_Once in a while_

_Please promise me you'll try_

_When you find_

_That once again you long_

_To take my heart back_

_And be free_

_If you ever find a moment_

_Spare a thought of me_

Danny thought she was very good and smiled at her. Catching his eye, the woman smiled back at him and continued singing.

After a while they had finally decided to rehearse a part with the Phantom and Danny had to go on stage.

"Remember the blocking Mr. Fenton?" Bernard asked after a long hour of blocking. "Kind of," Danny said truthfully. "Well, if you have any trouble, just say something, alright people, from the top!" Bernard said running off the stage and back into the audience.

Danny took a deep breath and entered the stage from the back of the curtain, walked towards the woman who had sung earlier, and sang:

_You have come here in pursuit of  
your deepest urge, in pursuit of  
that wish, which till now  
has been silent, silent . . ._

I have brought you, that our passions  
may fuse and merge, in your mind   
you've already succumbed to me  
dropped all defenses completely succumbed to me, now you are here with me  
no second thoughts, you've decided,  
decided . . .

Past the point of no return -  
no backward glances:  
our games of make believe   
are at an end . . .

Past all thought of "if" or "when" -  
no use resisting:  
abandon thought,  
and let the dream descend . . .

What raging fire shall flood the soul?  
What rich desire unlocks its door?  
What sweet seduction lies before us . . .?  
Past the point of no return,  
the final threshold, what warm,  
unspoken secrets will we learn?  
Beyond the point  
of no return . . .

Danny stopped in his place as the woman started singing. Danny didn't listen to her this time thought, he merely watched her mouth move. He was exhausted, this was almost as hard as fighting ghosts, but he would rather be fighting ghosts at that moment.

He didn't want to do the play, he didn't feel he was good enough, nor was he up to do this for hours and then do at least two performances a day.

"Well everyone, that's all for tonight, remember to come tomorrow at 11:30 sharp, good night," Gerald announced and the cast dispersed.

"Great job," the woman said. "Thanks," Danny said. The woman smiled at him and left. Danny walked out. As soon as he was sure no one was looking, he darted into the first room he saw.

He closed the door behind him and looked around. It was almost like a hotel room without a bed. There was a vanity and a large mirror that was slightly taller then Danny was.

He found some paper and a pencil and scribbled down:

_**Dear Gerald and Bernard,**_

_**I'm sorry but I don't really want to be in the play, I know this is sort of last minute, but I'm kind of involved in something right now so I'd prefer this not get in the way.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Danny Fenton**_

"Sorry guys, but I'm not a theater person," Danny said to himself. He looked over at the vanity and saw half of a white mask sitting on the desk. From what Danny knew of the show, he figured the Phantom wore it.

He picked it up and studied it for a while then asked himself: "Besides, what's so great about running around in some stupid mask?"

He gazed down at the mask he was holding and wondered: Why was there only half of it? His thoughts were interrupted by a clinking noise.

Danny wheeled around to look at the door. No one was there. Danny set the mask down walked up to it. He heard the sound of a key turning and reached for the knob, but it wouldn't turn.

"What's wrong with this thing?" Danny thought out loud. He shook the knob as hard as he could but the door wouldn't budge.

"Is this some kind of plague? Oh, funny guys! I get it, this is some trick you play on newbies, I get it, could you open the door now?" Danny shouted hoping someone would hear him.

Danny tried turning the knob again, but it still wouldn't budge. "This isn't funny guys! Could you let me out?" Danny asked.

But there was no answer. "Guys?" Danny asked quietly. He ran to the vanity and scooped up the mask. "Maybe there's a sharp edge on here," Danny thought out loud hoping he would be able to pick at the lock.

Suddenly, Danny dropped the mask when he heard a voice singing:

_Insolent boy!  
This slave  
of fashion  
basking in your  
glory!_

Ignorant fool!  
This new  
charactor  
sharing in my  
triumph!

"Wh-who's there?" Danny asked shakily. The voice sang again:

_Flattering child  
you shall know me  
see why in shadow  
I hide!_

Look at your face  
in the mirror  
I am there  
inside!

Danny turned to look at the large mirror in the room. At first he only saw himself, standing there.

Just then, another face slowly appeared next to him. Danny turned to look next to him, but no one was there. He looked at the other side, still no one. When he looked back in the mirror, he saw the face of a man with slick black hair wearing half a white mask over the right side of his face.

Danny's eyes widened. He looked on the floor to see the half mask still there, when he looked back at the mirror, the man's face was still there, still wearing the mask. "Who are you?" Danny asked almost in a whisper. The man's mouth moved and he said:

_I am your angel_

_Come to me angel of music_

"You've got to be kidding me," Danny muttered to himself. The man spoke again:

_I am the angel of music_

He paused briefly after looking around. As his body formed in the mirror, he drew a long fencing sword out from his cape, pointed it at Danny and said:

_Where is my angel of music?_

It didn't take a genius to realize that the sword was now an inch away from Danny's nose, and he was at least a foot away from the mirror.

"Angel of music, right, uh, okay, well, I'd love to stay and help you with that but…uh…I'd…better get going," Danny stammered in fear.

He was about to dart for the door again when the man stepped out of the mirror, seized Danny's arm and pulled him through the mirror.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Phantom of the Opera!**

"LET ME GO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHO ARE YOU?!" Danny cried as the man pulled him down a long hall way that seemed as if it was a narrow passage way to a dungeon. All over the walls were small candle holders that seemed to move.

"WH-WHERE AM I?!" Danny cried. He tried to wring himself free of the man's grasp but it was no use. The man drew his sword again and pointed it at Danny's nose.

Danny froze. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't go ghost in front of this man, he might rat him out. Who was he anyway?

The man's sword drifted away from Danny's nose and returned within the man's cape. Danny was dragged through the narrow hallway and down into a large labyrinth. There was a boat near where the man had stopped and Danny was thrown into it.

Landing on his face, Danny could fell the boat rock as the man stepped into it. He pushed himself up and looked forward as the boat moved ahead. With a long oar, the man rowed the small boat onward through the cave like labyrinth. Danny gulped and decided not to look the man in the eyes.

The man brought them to a large platform. On the platform was an organ and a large desk with what looked like a play set. Danny couldn't exactly tell from the distance. Also, there were mirror's such as the one Danny had just gone through and dozens of candles.

As they drew nearer, candles emerged from the lake. Danny wasn't too shocked, he was used to unnatural things, but the thing that did frighten him was that a man had come out of a mirror and brought him here.

"Why am I here?" Danny asked as the boat stopped at the edge of the platform. The man jumped onto the platform, walked over to the play set, and sang:

_Sing once again with me, our strange duet  
My power over you, grows stronger yet_

_You will do as I say_

_Or soon you'll find_

_The Phantom of the Opera is there _

_Inside your mind_

Danny's eyes widened. He got out of the boat and walked up to where the man was standing. Danny finally could see what was on the play set.

It was an exact replica of the Opera Populaire stage. Miniature, realistic dolls were set all over it. One, Danny noticed, looked exactly like him.

Before Danny could say anything, the man had pick up what looked like a tiny version of his mask on snapped it onto the doll of Danny's face.

"Uh, okay, I don't know what you're up to, but I'm out of here," Danny said running back to the boat.

The man had unfortunately beaten him there and had pushed the boat away from the platform with his foot. Danny halted himself at the edge of the platform and almost fell off but luckily had kept his balance.

"What do you want with me?" Danny asked. He wasn't frightened anymore, he was now anxious to know what this man was up to.

The man stared Danny in the eyes and said: "I need your help." With a swish of his cape, the man turned back to the play set.

"Pfff, that's it? You need my help? Did you exactly have to pull me through a mirror for help?" Danny asked.

"Yes!" the man snapped. "Okay, just asking," Danny said crossing his arms. There was a short pause before Danny asked: "Why do you need my help?"

"To get someone back," the man said, not bothering to look at Danny. "Who?" Danny asked.

"Christine," the man said sadly. Danny glared at the back of the man's head. He wanted Danny to help him bring back some girl?

The man walked to a curtain and drew it back, revealing a life size statue of a woman with medium length brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a wedding dress. Suddenly, the man sang:

_You have come here in pursuit of  
your deepest urge, in pursuit of  
that wish, which till now  
has been silent…_

Recognizing the song, Danny opened his mouth in awe. The man put his finger to his lips and said:

…_silent … _

Danny's mouth immediately shut and the man continued:__

I have brought you, that our passions  
may fuse and merge, in your mind  
you've already succumbed to me  
dropped all defenses completely succumbed to me, now you are here with me  
no second thoughts, you've decided,  
decided . . . 

The man drifted off, staring at the statue of the woman. Recalling the lyrics, Danny continued the song:__

Past the point of no return -  
no backward glances:  
our games of make believe  
are at an end . . . 

The man turned slowly to look at Danny, who continued: __

Past all thought of "if" or "when" -  
no use resisting:  
abandon thought,  
and let the dream descend . . .

What raging fire shall flood the soul?  
What rich desire unlocks its door?  
What sweet seduction lies before us . . .?  
Past the point of no return,  
the final threshold, what warm,  
unspoken secrets will we learn?  
Beyond the point  
of no return . . .

"THAT…that is what I want you to do," the man said. Danny jumped at the man's first word and said: "Do what?"

"Sing boy, sing! As loud as you can! Lure Christine back to me!" the man said making his voice louder with each sentence.

"You want me to sing really loud so you can get some girl back? Okay, you are REALLY crazy…" Danny started.

The man drew his sword once again and almost pointed the tip at Danny again when Danny quickly stated: "…But crazy is perfectly fine with me!"

As the man put his sword back, he said: "If you don't do what I ask of you, you will face the consequences."

"Uh, right, sing loud…get the girl back…okay, it all works," Danny said quickly. He was about ready to dart away from the man and run through the water, but for some reason, he stayed in his spot.

"Good," the man said walking back to the woman statue. Danny was about to ask if he could leave, or even _how_ he could leave, but different words escaped from his mouth. Instead, he asked: "Who are you?"

The man turned so that Danny could see his profile. Without looking at Danny, the man said: "Where you not listening, I said, _phantom of the opera_!"

Danny's eyes widened. He stepped back and almost fell on his back. The phantom was real? Maybe this was some insane person playing a trick on him, but still….

"Uh…okay then…" Danny stammered. The man, or Phantom, started to retreat from the statue of the woman and said: "You should be getting back."

"How? You kicked the boat away," Danny pointed out. All of a sudden, a boat that resembled the one that the Phantom had just gotten rid of appeared at the Phantom's feet.

"I always keep a spare," Phantom said stepping into the boat and picking up the long oar. Danny didn't think twice before running to the boat and sitting down. Immediately, the Phantom rowed them back to the mirror.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Notes!**

The next day at exactly 11:00, almost everyone had been notified of Danny's mysterious disappearance. Gerald burst through the doors of the Opera Populaire, clearly annoyed by the fact his star had just left without warning. He held out a news paper and read the article:

_"Mystery  
after casting night,"  
if says, "Mystery  
of the phantom's flight!"  
"Mystified  
all the papers say,  
we are mystified -  
we suspect foul play!"  
_

He lowered the paper and continued singing:

_Bad news here_

_a casting strife-  
it seems the play's_

_become real life!  
Still, at least  
the seats get sold  
gossip's worth  
its weight in gold . . ._

He smiled amusingly to himself and sang on:

_What a way to  
run a business!  
Spare me these  
unending trials!  
Your lead role disappears,  
but the crowd still cheers!  
Opera!  
To hell with Gluck and Handel -  
Have a scandal _

_and you're sure to have a hit_

Just then, Bernard burst in, trying his hardest to avoid the crowd outside. He slammed the doors and angrily sang:

_Damnable!  
Will they all walk out?  
This is damnable!_

Gerald stopped Bernard in his tracks:

_Bernard, please don't shout . . .  
It's publicity!  
And the take is vast!  
Free publicity!  
_

Bernard threw his arms in the air and cried:

_But who will we cast?!  
_

Gerald searched through his pocket and asked:

_Bernard  
have you seen the queue?  
_

He finally pulled out two envelopes, both with red skulls concealing the letter and said:

_It seems  
you've got one too . . ._

He handed one to Bernard, who opened it and read:

_"Dear Bernard  
such well thought out casting!  
Danny was such a great success!  
We were hardly bereft  
when the others left -  
on that note  
the chorus was entrancing,  
but the dancing was a  
lamentable mess!"  
_

Gerald had just opened his and read:

_"Dear Gerald  
just a brief reminder:  
my salary has not been paid.  
Send it care of the ghost,  
by return of post  
P.T.O.:  
No-one likes a debtor,  
so it's better if my  
orders are obeyed!"  
_

The two men looked at each other with looks of shock mixed with rage and sang:

_Who would have the gall  
to send this?  
Someone with a puerile brain!  
_

Gerald examined the letters:

_These are both signed "O.G." . . .  
_

Bernard cut in:

_Who the hell is he?  
_

They both immediately realized:

_Opera ghost!_

Un-amused, Gerald and Bernard trading off sentences:

_It's nothing short of shocking!  
_

_He is mocking  
our position!_

_In addition  
he wants money!  
_

_What a funny  
apparition . . .  
_

_. . . to expect a  
large retainer!  
Nothing plainer -  
he is clearly quite insane!_

_  
_Suddenly, Jazz burst through the door, holding a letter with the same skull on it as Gerald and Bernard's letters and cried:

_Where is he?  
_

Puzzled, Bernard asked:

_Who? One of us?  
_

Jazz answered:

_No! Danny Fenton -  
where is he?  
_

Gerald sighed:

_Well, how should we know?  
_

Jazz walked up to them and said:

_I want an answer -  
I take it that you sent me this note?  
_

Gerald asked:

_What's all this nonsense?  
_

Bernard answered:

_Of course not!  
_

Gerald crossed his arms and said:

_Don't look at us!  
_

Jazz looked confused and asked:

_He's not with you, then?  
_

Bernard stated firmly:

_Of course not!  
_

Bernard added: 

_We're in the dark . . .  
_

Jazz was loosing her patience and said:

_Monsieur, don't argue -  
Isn't this the  
letter you wrote?  
_

Gerald took the letter from her and asked:

_And what is it, that we're  
meant to have wrote?  
_

Momentarily, he realized his mistake and corrected:

Written!

Gerald opened the letter and looked over it. Bernard took the letter from him and read:  
"Do not fear for Mr. Fenton. The Angel of Music has him under his wing. Make no attempt to find him." The men looked at each other, completely baffled.

Jazz sighed. "Well if you didn't send it, and Danny didn't send it, who did?" she asked. Gerald and Bernard exchanged looks and sang:

_Far too many  
notes for my taste -  
and most of them  
about Danny!  
All we've heard since we came  
is that Fenton's name . . .  
_

Just then, a woman who looked like she was in her early fifties with medium length blonde hair wearing a green dress walked up to them and stated:

_Danny Fenton has returned.  
_

Gerald crossed his arms and dryly replied:

_Well that's probably the best news lately that I've heard  
_

Bernard cut in and asked the woman:

_Where precisely is he now?  
_

The woman merely responded:

_  
I thought it best  
he was alone . . .  
he needed rest.  
_

Jazz hopefully asked:

_May I see him?  
_

The woman held up her hand and said:

_No, mademoiselle,  
he will see no-one.  
_

Gerald and Bernard had had enough and asked:

_Will he sing?  
Will he sing?  
_

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a letter, still having the same red skeleton as the others and said:

_Here, I have a note . . ._

Gerald, Bernard, and Jazz enthusiastically cried:

_  
Let me see it!_

They all made a dart for the woman, but Gerald beat them to it. "Please!" he said taking the note. He tore it open and read:

"Gentlemen, I have now sent you several notes of the  
most amiable nature, detailing how my theatre is to be  
run. You have not followed my instructions.  
I shall give you one last chance . . ." 

Deep in the underground labyrinth of the theater, the Phantom sat at his play set and sang:

_Danny Fenton has returned to you,  
and I am anxious his career  
should progress._

He pulled the doll of Danny out of his pocket. It was now dressed like the Phantom except for the mask:

_Since he's returned_

_He must say_

_He is anxious to continue_

_In the play_

With that sung, the Phantom snapped the miniature mask to the Danny doll's face. Back in the lobby, Gerald continued to read the letter:

"I shall watch the performance from my normal seat in  
Box Five, which will be kept empty for me. Should  
these commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your  
imagination will occur.I remain, Gentlemen,  
Your obedient servant, O.G."

Gerald, Bernard, and Jazz all exchanged uneasy glances, the woman seemed to be the only one not surprised, she simply stood there

"Alright, whoever is sending these letters must be absolutely insane," Gerald said. "I'll say, sending us all these letters, demanding we pay him, giving us orders, I'd say this is becoming more then just a play, the Phantom must be real, they're both signed O.G, just like in the play," Bernard said snatching up the letters from Gerald.

"Oh please, there's no phantom of the opera, it's probably someone trying to spook us, or trying to get some attention, or money," Jazz said.

"The young lady is right Bernard, there's no possible way that there's a phantom of the opera, and even if there is, he's not doing anything to us," Gerald said.

"But the letter said: 'Should these commands be ignored, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur!'," Bernard recited the letter.

No one said a word when finally Gerald spoke up: "Well, Danny is the only one for the part, and even if he wasn't, it's best not to risk a disaster now is it?"

"I will go tell him," the woman said and walked off. "It's all right Miss Fenton, you can wait in the house if you wish to watch the performance," Gerald said.

"Thank you," Jazz said and walked into the house. "Should we do the rest of the orders?" Bernard asked.

"I don't think these matter, after all, what's the worst that could happen?" Gerald asked as he ripped the letters up.

Inside the vanity room containing the mirror which led to the labyrinth, the woman entered, closed the door softly behind her, and saw Danny sitting by the vanity table.

"I hope you are ready to continue with the play," she said. "Yeah, thanks for not telling anyone why I left miss…uh…" Danny started as he opened his script.

"Giry, Meg Giry," the woman said. Suddenly, Danny's eyes landed on the names 'Giry' and 'Meg' in the script as the woman spoke.

"Those are two names in the play," Danny thought out loud. "Yes, I am Meg, and my mother is Madam Giry," the woman, Meg, said.

"But, this play took place in the late 1800's, h-how are you still alive?" Danny asked uncertain if that was even a polite question to ask.

"You'd be amazed what people concoct over the years to keep people young and alive," Meg said.

"So, there's some kind of thing out there that's kept you alive all this time?" Danny asked.

"Yes, sort of an elixir of life you could say, it's only in Paris though, I don't believe it's anywhere else," Meg responded.

Danny thought for a while before asking: "Does that mean this play is based on something that really happened?"

Meg sighed and said: "Yes." "So there really is a phantom of the opera," Danny said. "You should already know," Meg said.

"What?" Danny asked. "Just because I found you in here alone, doesn't mean I don't know where you had been," Meg said.

"Excuse me?" Danny asked in confusion. "I know all about the phantom, my mother told me all about him," Meg said.

"What about him?" Danny asked hoping that Meg could help him. "Read the script, it tells you everything," Meg said smiling.

She started to head out of the room, but before she left, she said: "And keep in mind, if you ever see him again, keep your hand at the level of your eyes."

With that said, Meg slipped out of the room, leaving Danny alone. Danny sighed, he didn't want to read through the entire script, it was torture enough for him just to memorize his lines. He stared at the mirror for a while, and when nothing happened, he headed out of the room.

The moment Danny had left, the glass of the mirror slid open like a door. It had opened just barely that someone could see at least something through it. Behind the mirror, was a gloved hand. The hand pushed the mirror open all the way and the Phantom stepped out. Carefully, he closed the mirror, checked the lobby to see that no one was there, and when the coast was clear, headed for box 5.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: The Angel of Music Sings Songs In My Head!**

Danny sat in the audience with Jazz. "Where were you? What happened? Are you okay Danny?" Jazz asked worriedly.

"Jazz, take it easy, I'm fine, I just got lost and…sorta…stuck in a tight spot," Danny said a little uneasy.

"Okay, but don't wander around to much, you never know what you could run into," Jazz said.

"No kidding," Danny muttered under his breath. He looked up at box 5 to see a shadowy figure staring at him. The bit of light on the figure revealed his white mask and Danny immediately turned his gaze to Gerald and Bernard, who luckily had begun to speak.

"Alright people, our phantom is back, everything's alright, we continue with rehearsal as we would normally," Gerald announced.

"Alright, take it from the top of page nine," Bernard directed. The woman who had sang the prior day got up on stage.

Before she could actually get ON the stage, Danny ran up to her and said: "Hi! Uh, what's your name?"

"Jen Avalon, I play Christine, but you probably figured that out," the woman said. "Okay, Jen, I was wondering, do you believe the phantom of the opera is real?" Danny asked.

"Well, I'm not really sure, I never thought about it, well, I've got to get on stage, talk to you later," Jen said and went on stage. Danny sighed and ran back to his seat.

"What was that all about?" Jazz asked. "I was a just asking her…if she believes in the phantom," Danny said.

"Don't tell me you're getting sucked into that!" Jazz said. "Well…" Danny started. "Don't worry Danny, there's no phantom of the opera," Jazz confirmed.

Danny looked up at box 5 again and saw the mask slowly slip into the shadows. "I wish I could believe that," he whispered to himself.

After a long day of rehearsing the same scenes they had yesterday, everyone started leaving. "Danny, where's your script?" Jazz asked as they reached the door.

"I must have left it in the house, I'll be right back," Danny said. "Be careful, don't get lost again," Jazz called as Danny ran back to the house.

Danny ran to his seat and found his script wasn't there. He ducked behind one of the seats and transformed into Danny Phantom. He turned invisible and flew up to box 5.

He had expected to see the Phantom looking through his script but instead, Danny saw his script lying on the ground along with an envelope with a red skull concealing a letter which read:

_**Remember, loud!**_

_**-O.G.**_

Danny crumpled the note into a ball and threw it to the side. He grabbed his script and left. As soon as he was gone the Phantom walked into box 5, picked up the crumpled note, and left.

Later that night in Danny and Jazz's hotel room. "You did great Danny," Jazz said brushing her hair.

"Thanks Jazz," Danny muttered as he flipped through his script. "I never knew you'd have to rehearse scenes that long," Jazz continued.

"Me neither," Danny mumbled dropping his script on his bed. "Yeah, now remember, you have to get up pretty early, it does start at 11:30 you know," Jazz continued again.

"I know Jazz," Danny said as he crawled into his bed. "Yep, well, good night Danny," Jazz finished turning off the lights and crawling into her bed, which was just opposite Danny's.

"Good night Jazz," Danny said pulling the covers over him. After a couple of minutes, he fell asleep.

Danny found himself once again in box 5 with the same skull enclosed letter. It still read:

_**Remember, loud!**_

_**-O.G.**_

Danny once again crumpled it up and threw it to the side. The moment he did so, he fell through the floor and ended up on stage.

He looked out into the audience and saw a full house. He looked around on stage and saw Jen with a gypsy like dress on and a rose in her hair.

He noticed he himself was wearing an outfit similar to the Phantom's. He reached for his face and felt half a mask on the right side of his face.

Suddenly, the music started. Danny opened his mouth to start singing but no words came out. He quickly shut his mouth so he wouldn't look silly.

He looked around and noticed everyone was glaring at him, as if he did something wrong. To his dismay, Danny absent mindedly looked up into box 5. Luckily for him, no one was in there.

He looked back out into the audience to see everyone was gone. He looked back on the stage and saw it was empty. Danny quickly darted for the stairs to the audience when the Phantom stopped in front of him and sang:

_You will curse_

_The day you did not do_

_All that the Phantom _

_Asked of_

_You!_

As he held the last note, the Phantom drew his sword and swung it for Danny. Danny screamed and woke up, still in bed. Jazz was still asleep. Danny got up, looked out the window, and sang:

_In sleep he sings to me_

_In dreams he came_

_That voices which haunts my dreams_

_And speaks my name_

_Should I do what he says?_

_For now I find_

_The Phantom of the Opera_

_Is there_

_Inside my mind_

Unbeknown to Danny, the Phantom sat on the roof top, gazing down at the top of Danny's head. "Yes, you will!" he whispered silently and sang:

_You will follow my orders_

_Or soon you will dread_

_As the angel of music _

_Sings songs in your head_

Danny then sang:

_The angel of music_

_Sings songs in my head_

Then the both sang:

_The angel of music_

_Sings songs in my/your head_

Danny looked up and the Phantom disappeared. The Phantom looked back for a brief moment and sang:

_Remember…_

_You will curse _

_The day you did not do_

_All that the Phantom _

_Asked of_

_You! _

He held the last note and with a whip of his cape, he disappeared into the night. Danny carefully closed the window and crawled back into bed, but he didn't fall asleep, for he continuously heard the Phantom's voce singing.

_**Sorry this chapter isn't so good, but the next chapters are A LOT better, I promise! -shiftyeyes- Well, hope you like it! Please R&R with no flames!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Poor Fool He Makes Me Laugh!**

The next day of rehearsal was as dull as the previous to Danny. The most eventful part was the beginning when Danny and Jazz had gotten there early.

"I wonder if mom and dad can see the show for free?" Jazz wondered out loud. "I don't know," Danny said boredly.

"I'll go ask Gerald, I'll be right back," Jazz said walking back into the lobby leaving Danny all alone on the stage.

No one was in the audience, and the Phantom was no where to be seen, not even in box 5. Danny sighed and opened his script. He walked across the stage yawning every few steps.

Suddenly, something dropped from above right in front of Danny. It was a man. A man with messy, shoulder length, brown hair with a wild looking beard, a red long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a brown vest, and black work pants was dangling from a rope that was tied tightly around his neck.

Danny screamed and fell on his back. The look in the man's eyes was glossy and made it clear there was no life in him.

"Sorry 'bout that! Didn't see you there!" came a voice from above. Danny looked up to see a man with hair that looked like the dead man's, only it was dirty blonde, wearing a dirty gray shirt and ripped jeans standing on a platform just above the stage.

"Wha-what ha-why's he-what'd you…?" Danny was almost rendered speechless at what just happened.

"Sorry! Didn't know you'd be here, I didn' see anyone, don' worry kid, this is jus' a dummy," the man said pulling the rope, causing the dummy man to rise up.

"What's the dummy for?" Danny asked wiping some sweat of his face. "For the show, you've read the script right?" the man asked.

"Not all of it," Danny said truthfully. "Well, it's for the scene when this guy goes after the Phantom, then the Phantom 'angs 'im," the man said patting the dummy's stomach, making a hollow echoing sound.

"The Phantom, ha-hangs someone?" Danny asked started to sweat again. He didn't want to play a murderer. "Oh yeah, hey, aren' you the kid who plays the Phantom?" the man asked.

"Kinda," Danny muttered. "Well, I guess I've given you a little more knowledge of the show then, 'ave fun," the man said walking off to another side of the platform.

Danny gulped and looked up at box 5. When he didn't see anyone in it, he darted for the lobby.

The second he got into the lobby, he bummed into Meg Giry. "Bonjour monsieur," she said.

"The Phantom….kills people…?" Danny asked almost out of breath from running. "I told you to read the script, maybe it wouldn't have been such a surprise," Meg replied simply.

"IT WOULD'VE STILL FREAKED ME OUT!" Danny shouted. Meg didn't move, her facial expression was the same, it was almost as if she hadn't heard or seen Danny for a brief moment.

"You had better get back in the house, rehearsal should be starting soon," she said walking into the house.

Danny watched her walk into the house. Apparently, she was use to surprises. Danny sighed and followed close behind her.

"So, Gerald said that you can invite your friends and family to see the opening show and they can get in free, and he'll reserve the whole middle row for us, isn't that great?" Jazz asked excitedly, apparently in her own little world, later that afternoon.

"Huh? Yeah, great," Danny agreed, not even remotely interested at the moment. "And Bernard said that you're doing great, he says you're a great Phantom," Jazz said still bubbly inside her little world.

Danny suddenly recalled when Tucker told him that it was his choice whether being called a good Phantom was a compliment or an insult. He found it to be the most insulting thing he had ever heard. He was not pleased with being a murderous, obsessive lunatic.

"Okay everyone, turn to page 50 and let's get started!" Bernard announced as he and Gerald sat in their regular seats in the audience.

Danny flipped to page 50 and saw he wasn't on stage but he had a few lines. He got up and went over to Gerald and Bernard and asked: "Uh, what do I do?"

"You can sit in the audience and just read off the lines," Gerald said. "Okay," Danny shrugged and went back to his seat.

"I'm gonna go check out the middle row, okay?" Jazz asked, still in her small world. "Okay," Danny said looking down at his script.

Jazz sprinted to the middle row and Danny slumped in his seat. As Gerald and Barnard blocked the scene, Danny stared up at box 5. For a brief moment, there was no one there, when a little bit later, the shadow of the Phantom appeared. Danny saw the outline of the Phantom's half masked face staring at him and Danny's gazed quickly jumped to the stage.

Luckily, as soon as Danny looked back at the stage, he heard his name called. "Alright Mr. Fenton, say your line please," Bernard instructed.

Danny looked back at his script and said: "Didn't I request that box 5 was left empty." "It's him, the Phantom of the Opera," a woman with short blonde hair tied back into a ponytail and a pink jacket on said softly to Jen, who was wearing a short sleeved blue shirt and jeans. According to the script, it was Meg's line. Danny looked over at Meg, who had a small smile on her face.

"It's him," Jen said. "Your part is silent, little toad," a woman with medium length red hair pulled back into a ponytail with an orange scrunchie snapped in a heavy Spanish accent.

"Toad madam? Perhaps it is you who are toad," Danny recited his line. Danny looked up at box 5 out of the corner of his eye and saw the Phantom glaring down at the red haired woman with a look of pure disgust.

Whoever the woman was playing, the Phantom clearly hated her. When Danny looked back at the stage, the red haired woman had begun singing in an extremely high opera voice:

_Poor fool_

_He makes me laugh_

_Ahaha_

_Aha Aha Aha AHA_

Suddenly, she made a croaking noise. Danny jumped a little in shock. Gerald and Barnard didn't seem to think it was a big deal. Danny looked back at his script to see that the woman was supposed to croak like that.

The woman looked around worriedly and continued:

_Poor fool_

_He makes me laugh_

_Ahaha_

_Aha Aha Aha AHA_

Once again, she started croaking. "Very good, from the top everyone!" Gerald announced as he and Bernard sat back down.

A strange skit went on on the stage, when Danny's turn came, he said his lines. After that, he slumped back in his chair.

The rest of the time, they rehearsed a scene Danny wasn't in, so Danny fell asleep half way through the rehearsal.

When it was over, Jazz nudged Danny and said: "Danny, Danny wake up!" Danny instantly woke up. "Wha-what happened?" Danny asked through a yawn.

"You fell asleep, seriously Danny, how are you going to understand the play if you don't pay attention to it?" Jazz asked.

"Jazz, it's fine," Danny groaned. He got up and the two siblings walked out. Before they reached the door, Jazz said: "I have to use the bathroom, I started drinking a lot of water while I watched, be right back."

She darted for one of the restrooms and Danny sat on a bench. The second he sat down, the lights flickered off. Danny looked around. There was no one there. He looked around more closely when he suddenly heard a faint sound, someone was singing.

He opened the door closest to him and found himself looking into the vanity room where he had first met the Phantom. He listened closely and could faintly hear the Phantom singing:

_Christine_

_Christine_

Danny rolled his eyes and closed the door. He could've been back in Amity Park, possibly watching his classmates rehearsing the play, but no! He was stuck in Paris rehearsing a play he didn't even want to do. He was only there because the Phantom needed him to lure back some girl named Christine.

He wished he had just left. It's not like the Phantom would find him. But then again, he did seem like a stalker. His thoughts were interrupted when he felt someone tap on his shoulder.

Danny turned around, expecting to see Jazz, but instead saw the Phantom standing right behind him. Danny stepped out of the way and the Phantom walked through the mirror.

Just then, the lights flickered back on and Jazz walked out of the bathroom. "Phew! That's much better, let's go," she said.

"Yeah, let's go, it's getting late," Danny said a mile a minute,. He would do anything to get away from a crazy lunatic.

Once they got to the hotel, Danny threw himself on his bed and instantly fell asleep, still wearing his day clothes. "Good night Danny," Jazz whispered after she had gotten changed and turned out the light.

That whole night, the red headed woman's croaking rang through Danny's ears. He almost wished it would stop, until the next voice that came into his head was the Phantom's voice softly singing:

_Christine _

_Christine_

Danny's eyes popped open and he found Jazz standing over him, already dressed. Danny got up, brushed his shirt with his hands and asked: "Time to go?"

"No, I was just about to wake you up, you've got to get in the shower, we've got an hour," Jazz said pushing Danny into the bathroom. Danny sighed and closed the door behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Musical Tutor!**

After Danny's shower, he got dressed and he and Jazz left for the Opera Populaire. They got there early again and Jazz went off looking for Gerald and Bernard.

"And I'm alone again," Danny muttered to himself as Jazz disappeared out the house doors.

He wandered into the lobby and saw nobody was there. He looked over at the vanity room door to see it was wide open.

Curiously, Danny carefully walked over to the door. Before he stepped a foot in the room, he remembered Meg Giry's warning: _If you ever see him again, keep your hand at the level of your eyes!_

Danny held his right had up to the level of his eyes. He wasn't sure what Meg had meant, but better safe then sorry with this guy.

He walked into the vanity room to see the mirror door was also left wide open. Without thinking, Danny walked through the mirror and down the narrow walkway full of moving candle holders.

When he got to the lake, he hadn't see anything of the Phantom. He was about to leave when he suddenly heard the distant voice of the Phantom singing:

_Stranger_

_Then you dreamt it_

_Can you even dare to look_

_Or bear to think of me_

_This loathsome gargoyle _

_Who burns in hell_

_But secretly _

_Yearns for heaven_

_Secretly _

_Secretly_

_Christine_

At the word 'Christine', Danny changed to ghost mode and flew over to the sorce of the Phantom's song:

_Fear can turn to love_

_You learn to see_

_To find the man_

_Behind the monster _

_This repulsive carcass_

_Who seems a beast_

_But secretly_

_Dreams of beauty_

_Secretly _

_Secretly _

_Oh, Christine_

Danny found the Phantom sitting at an organ, staring at the statue of the woman. Danny changed back into a human and slowly walked up to the Phantom.

The Phantom almost instantly turned around to see Danny stiffen at the sight of him. Danny could barely see the unmasked side of the Phantom's face, but the look in his eyes made it clear he wasn't too pleased to see Danny there.

"You haven't been loud enough," the Phantom spat hitting a spin chilling chord on the organ.

"Sorry," Danny said unable to think clearly. The Phantom turned his back to Danny and continued playing an ear splitting song on the organ.

Danny wasn't sure what to say. When he opened his mouth to speak, he was certain he was going to say: "Sorry for bothering you, I'll just go know!" But instead, he asked: "What was that song you were singing?"

The Phantom slammed his hands on the organ keys, making a horrible, loud, scratchy noise. Danny covered his ears and the Phantom turned to look at him.

"It's none of your business," he responded. Danny didn't need to take his hands from his ears to hear him, the Phantom was loud and clear.

"Right, sorry," Danny said lowering his hands. The Phantom swung his cape off his back and let it land on the ground of the platform. "You should be getting back," he said.

"Yeah," Danny said. He turned to walk off when he was stopped by the Phantom saying: "And be loud."

Danny clenched his fist and turned around. "What? Am I not loud enough for you?!" Danny snapped without giving any thought as to what he was saying.

"No," the Phantom replied crossing his arms. "Well, I'm sorry, maybe I'm just not good at loud, what's _your_ definition of loud anyway?" Danny asked.

The Phantom hit a note on the organ that made Danny wince at how loud it was. Danny rubbed his ears. "Come on, like anyone can go that high," he protested.

The Phantom arched an eyebrow and glared at Danny, he could have both eyebrows up but Danny couldn't see the other one for it was concealed behind the mask.

"I take it you can go that high," Danny said. "Yes," the Phantom said almost as loud as the note.

Danny winced again and said: "Right, okay, bye!" As he was on his way out, the Phantom returned to the organ and started playing it again.

Danny sighed. Now that he thought about it, he had been kind of quiet. He turned around to see the Phantom still playing and asked: "Could you teach me to be louder?"

The Phantom stopped playing immediately and froze in his spot. He did not bother to look at Danny when he asked: "Excuse me?"

"Could you teach me to be louder?" Danny asked again. There was a long silence. Danny felt the answer would be 'no' and started to leave when he heard the Phantom say: "Alright."

Danny stopped immediately and asked: "What? You'll…you'll help me?" "Yes! Come here after every rehearsal," the Phantom said still not turning to look at Danny.

"Uh, okay," Danny said. He was not ready to argue with this guy. The Phantom got up from the organ and a boat appeared by Danny's feet. Without need to ask, Danny got in and the Phantom rowed him back to the mirror.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Music of the Night!**

As soon as Danny closed the mirror, he ran out of the vanity room and bummed into Jazz. "Oh my gosh! Danny! There you are! I was looking all over for you! Where'd you go?!" Jazz asked not even bothering to pause for a breath.

"Jazz, I'm fine, I was just, talking with…a musical tutor," Danny said almost uncertain what to say.

"Musical tutor?" Jazz asked. "Uh, yeah! I got a musical tutor to help me get better at this singing thing, and I have to practice with him every night after rehearsal," Danny said smiling as if he had a secret to keep about this, which he did.

"But won't you be tired?" Jazz asked. "It's okay, I'll be fine," Danny lied. "Okay, come on, you should be getting to rehearsal," Jazz said tugging on Danny's arm.

It was once again a boring rehearsal for Danny, he once again fell asleep during the scene he wasn't doing and was once again awoken by Jazz.

"So, where's this tutor?" Jazz asked. "What? Oh! Right! It's, uh, in there, private lesson, can't let you in," Danny sped through his words, he had almost forgotten about the Phantom.

"Well, you know where the hotel is right? And if you need to be picked up, just call my cell phone number…" Jazz started.

"Jazz, I'll be fine," Danny assured her. "Okay, have fun Danny," Jazz said and walked out of the opera house.

"I'm not sure 'fun' is the proper term for this," Danny uttered when Jazz was safely out of sight.

He walked through the mirror in the vanity room and carefully flew down to the platform where he found the Phantom once again at the organ. Danny transformed back into human form, hidden behind a large portrait and stepped out.

Not knowing if he should disturb the Phantom, Danny stood behind him, watching him play the organ.

Almost as if the Phantom had eyes in the back of his head, he said: "Good, you're here." "Uh, yeah, so, when should we start?" Danny asked.

"Now," the Phantom said still not looking at him. Danny sighed and walked over to one side of the organ.

"Take out your script," the Phantom ordered. Danny pulled out his script. "Turn to the twentieth page," the Phantom ordered one again. Danny did so.

Danny found a song entitled: _Music of the Night_ on the page the Phantom had him turn to.

"Uh, is this the song you're teaching me?" Danny asked. He figured that was a stupid question for once he asked it, the Phantom glared at him disapprovingly.

"Oh, right, sorry," Danny said sweating a little bit. The Phantom turned back to the piano, starting playing a song, and sang:

_Nighttime sharpens_

_Heightens each sensation  
Darkness stirs_

_And wakes imagination  
Silently the senses _

_Abandon their defenses _

Danny stood still, not knowing whether the Phantom wanted him to listen or follow along, when no response came from either of them, the Phantom continued:

_Slowly_

_gently_

_night unfurls its splendor  
Grasp it _

_sense it_

_tremulous and tender   
Turn your face away _

_From the garish light of day  
Turn your thoughts away from cold_

_Unfeeling light   
And listen to_

_the music of the night  
_  
Almost as if the music had some kind of hold over him, Danny stood completely still and listened to the Phantom sing. He had almost completely forgotten how afraid of the Phantom he was.

Once the Phantom had finished the song, he started having Danny sing it, stopping him every few lines to tell him to go higher or do something different with the note.

The next day, Danny went through rehearsal, this time he was rehearsing the song the Phantom had been teaching him. He would occasionally stall himself, remembering something the Phantom had told him to do, so they never got to the next scene, nor to the end of the scene they were working on.

"It's alright Danny, you did fine," Bernard said comfortingly. "If you really want to make it perfect, you might want to do so when you're NOT rehearsing," Gerald suggested.

"Yeah, okay," Danny said smiling sheepishly. When Gerald, Bernard, and everyone else was out of sight, Danny quickly snuck of to the labyrinth.

Once again, the Phantom had Danny sing the song, still stopping him every few words to correct him.

"Try it again," the Phantom ordered after at least an hour later. Danny sighed, took a deep breath and started singing:

_Let your mind start a journey _

_to a strange new world  
Leave all thoughts of the life _

_you knew before   
Let…_

"Stop!" the Phantom shouted. Danny stopped almost a second before the Phantom shouted. He had the feeling he would be stopped.

"You were an octave off," the Phantom pointed out. "Yeah, I know, my fault," Danny apologized. He had gotten used to being stopped and saying the same apology over and over again.

The next rehearsal, Danny sang the way he normally would and they continued onto the next scene.

Danny sat in the audience as they practiced a scene he wasn't in. "You feeling okay Danny? You look tired," Jazz said.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Danny lied. He had been practicing with the Phantom from 9 o'clock until midnight, Danny was feeling anything but fine at that point.

The next practice with the Phantom went almost exactly as it had the previous night, the Phantom stopped him in at least five of the exact same places.

"Look, I'm trying," Danny whined. "You're not trying your best though, now are you?" the Phantom asked dryly.

Danny sighed. "Are we done yet?" Danny asked looking at his watch. It was 1:05 in the morning.

"Are we finished with the song yet?" the Phantom asked. Danny sighed again, they hadn't even gotten half way through the song.

"No," Danny moaned. "Then we're not done, now start from the eighth line where we left off," the Phantom said starting to play the organ again.

When Danny got back to the hotel, it was 10:11. He didn't bother to take off his clothes, or his shoes, and flopped onto his bed. Five minutes later, Jazz woke him up.

"Come on sleepy head, let's go," Jazz said. Danny slipped off his bed and slowly got up. "Okay," Danny yawned.

At the theater, Danny looked around the lobby, hoping someone would have some coffee or anything to wake him up a little bit.

Suddenly, he realized the vanity door was wide open. He slowly shuffled to the door and closed it. He was very close to slipping to the floor and falling asleep, when he heard Jazz call: "Come on Danny, rehearsal's about to start."

Danny shuffled to the house and sat down next to Jazz. He held his head up by his hand and looked around the house. Jen was walking down the aisles talking to whoever was playing Meg. She took a sip of her coffee and instantly spat it out.

"Ugh! I told them, I didn't want decaf," she groaned. "Hey, Jen! Are you gonna finish that?" Danny asked sleepily.

"Uh, no, you want it?" Jen asked. "Yes please," Danny said. Jen handed the coffee cup to him and walked back down the aisle with the girl playing Meg.

Danny instantly chugged down the coffee, ignoring the fact he spilt a little bit on his pant leg.

"Danny!" Jazz snapped." What?" Danny asked as he finished the last drop. Jazz pulled a napkin out of her purse and started wiping the stain on Danny's pants off.

"Honestly Danny, you're in public," Jazz hissed as she scrubbed harshly on Danny's leg. Danny sighed as Jazz scrubbed harder.

"Alright, from the top of _Music of the Night_," Gerald announced. "Well, that's good enough, just be careful next time," Jazz said sternly.

"Okay Jazz," Danny said. The coffee barely woke him up. He waked carelessly to the stage and started singing.

Half way through the song, he yawned and the music had to stop. "Alright, let's try from the line you were just on," Bernard said.

Danny almost thought he heard the Phantom's voice come out of Bernard's mouth at that sentence. But without arguing, Danny went back to singing.

When he was done and they had started on the next scene, Danny looked up at box 5 to see the Phantom glaring down at him, disapprovingly.

Danny ignored him and went back to his seat. Seeing as the next scene had the red headed croaking woman singing, Danny found it difficult to even try to sleep. She had such a high pitch, it would be impossible for someone who had gone a year without sleep to dose off.

Once rehearsal had finished, Danny was even more tired then he had started out. "Are you sure you want to practice with that tutor, you seem pretty sleepy," Jazz said.

"Jazz, I-I'm fine, I j-just need to practice a little bit, I'll be done by the time you've gone to bed, don't worry," Danny assured her through several yawns.

Unfortunately, that was not going to happen, it was almost three o'clock and Danny hadn't even sung half the song yet.

"Just a little louder and we can go on," the Phantom said. "Okay," Danny said. He had lost his spot on the script due to blurry eyes so the Phantom had to start out the line for him.

"Let…." The Phantom started the song hitting a high note. Let…" Danny started a little lower then the Phantom.

"Let…." The Phantom sang at the same high note as before. "Let…" Danny tried going higher, but his throat was getting sore so he couldn't.

"Let…." The Phantom sang on the high note again. Instead of singing, Danny let out a long yawn.

"That wasn't high enough, that wasn't even a note," the Phantom complained. "Sorry," Danny said rubbing his eyes.

"Alright, let's try it again," the Phantom said. He hit the high note on the organ, but the note was almost muffled out by a lo9ud thud.

The Phantom turned to see Danny sprawled out on the floor, fast asleep. The Phantom sighed, accidentally hitting a number of keys on the organ, making an ear splitting noise.

Not waking Danny, the Phantom crouched over the sleeping boy and picked him up. The Phantom brought Danny over to a bed with velvet red sheets. At the foot of the bed was a statue of a bird's head and body whose wing wrapped up around to the head of the bed.

The Phantom carefully set Danny down onto the bed. He pulled a dangling rope from the ceiling and thin, black drapes fell around the bed.

As the drapes reached the floor, the Phantom returned back to the organ but stopped at the statue of the brunette woman and sang:

_You alone can make my song take flight  
Help me make the music of the night_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Here's a new chapter! Sorry for not updating, life got in the way, sorta –cough- Anyway, please enjoy! **_

**Chapter 12: Unusual Demand!**

No dream had entered Danny's head since he had fallen asleep during the Phantom's lesson. His slumber was soon interrupted but the sound of a soft, high pitched song being played somewhere close above his head.

Danny slowly opened his eyes and saw a small music box with a plastic monkey perched onto top of it. The monkey seemed to be dressed in robes and was playing the cymbals. Danny pushed himself up on his elbows and saw he was in a bed with velvet red sheets, a thin black drape over the bed, and a rope dangling from the ceiling.

Danny pulled on the rope and the drapes elevated back up to the ceiling. Looking around, Danny realized he was still in the Phantom's labyrinth.

Still a little drowsy, Danny got out of the bed and walked clumsily over the Phantom, who was sitting at his play set and writing something down on a piece of paper.

"Excuse me," Danny said without thinking. The Phantom turned around to look at him. Danny made a small yawn and asked: "What happened?"

"You fell asleep," the Phantom answered simply. "Oh, right," Danny said rubbing his head.

He checked his watch to see it was 10:50. "OH MY GOSH! I've been here all night!" Danny cried almost completely forgetting he was still drowsy.

The Phantom didn't bother o make a comment on Danny's outburst and quickly said: "Give this to your directors, let's go."

He handed Danny an envelope with a red skull concealing it. Danny didn't bother to ask and quickly got in the boat.

Once Danny got back into the opera house, he saw Jazz standing in the lobby. "Oh my gosh! Danny you scared me! Why didn't you call me?" Jazz asked speedily after hugging Danny tightly.

"Jazz, I'm sorry, I just…feel asleep during the lesson," Danny said truthfully. "You feel asleep? Why didn't your tutor call me?" Jazz asked.

"I don't know," Danny answered. "All I got was this letter that said: _Danny will not be back soon! –O.G.!"_ Jazz recited the letter she had been holding.

Danny sighed. "I'm sorry Jazz, I just don't want to mess this up," he said. "Well, okay, just don't scare me like that, okay," Jazz ordered a little bit shaky.

"Okay," Danny sighed and the two siblings walked into the house. Danny looked around and found Gerald and Bernard talking. Danny quickly walked up to them and tapped Gerald on the shoulder.

The two men turned around and Gerald said: "Ah! Hello Daniel." "Hi, uh, not trying to disturb you, but, uh, someone wanted me to give this to you," Danny said nervously handing Gerald the letter from the Phantom.

"Thank you dear boy," Gerald said taking the letter. "Yeah, heh, bye," Danny said running off. He didn't know what the letter said, and he figured if the Phantom wrote it, he wouldn't want to know.

Gerald opened the letter and read to Bernard:

_**Gentlemen,**_

_**I am writing this letter on behalf of usual demands, such as leaving box 5 empty for my use, and that my salary is due. But I now have a different request, and by request I mean demand. You are to leave all doors, and windows open, preferably the ones closest to the cemetery. Remember, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur if these demands are not followed through.**_

_**-O.G.**_

Gerald sighed and said: "Another crack pot letter." He immediately started ripping up the note. "What are you doing?" Bernard asked grabbing the letter, which was now in quarter pieces, from Gerald.

"Come now Bernard, do you really expect something bad to happen if we don't leave a bunch of doors and windows open?" Gerald asked taking the note pieces back.

"I'm just saying, whoever is writing these notes may be pulling a fast one on us, but better safe then sorry," Bernard warned.

Gerald paused for a second then said: "Alright, we'll see how rehearsal goes without following these demands, and if nothing unusual happens, this will be going in the recycling!"

Bernard nodded in agreement and the directors went to their seats. Meanwhile in box 5, the Phantom drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. As he watched the cast get in their places, he got up from his chair and walked out into the lobby.

_**Sorry guys, I'm leaving it there-ducks sharp flying objects- Don't worry, tomorrow's my last day of school so I'll have more time to write! Please R&R with no flames!**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Okay guys, I updated –readers lower their sharp objects of doom- Okay, sorry if this Is a little, or really, cheesy, but it's to thicken the plot! Enjoy! Please R&R with no flames!**_

**Chapter 13: Tragic Accidents!**

Rehearsal lasted longer then Danny had expected, it was past the time they had normally stopped and everyone was messing up on something.

As Danny waited backstage for his turn to go on, he noticed that three people had tripped. "Good lord, what's going on?" Bernard asked as Jen got up.

"The floor is….SLIPPERY!!!" Jen replied, screaming on her last word as she stumbled over again.

"Well how on Earth did it get slippery?" Gerald asked. As he and Bernard stepped onto the stage, they both slipped and landed face flat on the stage floor, Gerald laying flat over Bernard.

As everyone on stage slipped and fell on each other, the Phantom was inconspicuously storing the mop and bucket of water he had used for wetting the floor backstage.

Danny sighed and watched everyone trip. He remembered seeing a janitor walk across the stage before they started, maybe he slipped something on his way.

Suddenly, something dropped down from above. It was the statue of the man Danny had seen before, hung by his neck. The girl playing Meg shrieked and fell on her back.

"Could you PLEASE not drop that bloody thing?" Bernard shouted to the platform above the stage.

Danny looked up and saw a black cloaked figure walking away quickly. Without anyone seeing, Danny ran behind a set piece and went into ghost mode.

"Sorry, I wasn' at my post," the blonde man that had dropped the dummy before called as he ran from another side of the platform and started pulling the dummy up.

"Then how did it drop?" Gerald asked as Bernard fell on him. "I dunno, mus' be a ghost," the blonde man said as he pulled the dummy back up.

"Oh don't give me that," Gerald said as he and Bernard got to their feet. The real Meg Giry watched as Danny turned invisible and flew up to the platform. She sighed and smiled. "Keep your hand at the level of your eyes," she whispered.

Danny stood on the platform, bending his legs to try not to slip off the edge. The platform swung from side to side as he walked. Danny looked up from his feet to see where the Phantom was, but the only thing he saw was the blonde man talking down to Gerald and Bernard.

Luckily, Danny was still invisible. He walked carefully across the thin, shifty platform, constantly looking up from his feet to see if the Phantom was there, but no luck. The Phantom had vanished.

"This guy's like smoke," Danny said quietly to himself. Suddenly, he saw the Phantom on the platform next to him, much bigger, sturdier one then Danny was on.

Danny jumped onto the platform and watched as the Phantom pulled his sword out from his cape. Without hesitating, Danny became solid and grabbed the Phantom's cape. He pulled it tight and let go. The Phantom fell flat on his face and dropped the sword.

Danny gasped and was about to go after the sword when the Phantom grabbed Danny's arm and pulled him back. Danny put his hand up in front of his eyes, not knowing what else to do and heard a loud scream.

Danny pulled himself free from the Phantom and saw the sword was about to hit the two girls on the stage. Danny flew down and grabbed the sword before it hit them.

He sighed in relief and noticed everyone was looking at him. "Uh, look everyone! It's Danny Phantom!" Jazz cried.

Everyone took out their cameras and started taking pictures of Danny, who merely gave a nervous smile and looked up to see the Phantom glaring down at him. It might have been a trick of the light, or he was just tired, but Danny could have swore the Phantom was smiling at him.

Bernard looked at Gerald with an 'I told you so' face and Gerald said: "Alright, we'll follow the demands, but he's not getting a penny out of me until I know who this _O.G._ person is."

"Thanks for saving us," Jen said smiling. "Heh, no problem miss," Danny said smiling sheepishly.

Jen giggled and she and the girl playing Meg walked off. Danny flew back up to the platform but was stopped by the blonde man. "Hey, aren' you the ghost boy from Amity Park?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, kind of," Danny stammered. "Well be cautious, I 'eard that the Opera Ghost 'as been lookin' for ya, wants to do ya in I s'pose," the blonde man said.

"Henry, hold your tongue!" Meg called from below. "Sorry miss, jus' warnin' 'im of the Opera ghost," the blonde man said.

"What Opera Ghost?" Meg asked arching an eyebrow. "Oh, right! Jus' kiddin' with ya boy, ya might wanna watch yer step 'round here," the blonde man said.

"Henry!" Meg hissed sternly. "Jus' go 'bout yer business," the blonde man said and walked off.

Danny saw the Phantom glaring at him. Danny slowly flew over to him. Without saying a word, he dropped the sword at the Phantom's feet and flew off.

As Danny transformed back to normal behind a large set piece, Gerald announced: "Alright everyone, we'll continue with rehearsal tomorrow when the floor dries and we are certain nothing will fall from the cat walk!"

Danny ran back to Jazz, but paused when Meg winked at him. Jazz ran up to him and said: "Nice one Danny."

"I didn't drop the sword! I'm not looking for more attention!" Danny hissed at her. "I didn't mean it like that, I meant for saving everyone," Jazz said a little taken back.

"Thanks," Danny mumbled. "You okay?" Jazz asked. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired," Danny said rubbing his eyes.

"Well, maybe you should skip the singing class tonight," Jazz suggested. "I'm not that tired actually," Danny said putting on a fake smile. He wasn't about to get in trouble with the Phantom.

"Well, okay, but if you start getting tired, I want you to come home, okay?" Jazz said. "Okay," Danny yawned.

Jazz sighed and walked out along with the others. Danny quickly darted for the vanity room and slipped through the mirror.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14: Questions Answered!**

The week went by as if it were a rerun show. Danny had rehearsed the same scene every day and done the same song with the Phantom every night, often falling asleep half way through it.

That Saturday when they had finally started a new scene, Gerald announced: "Everyone, we are going to skip rehearsal tomorrow, just so you can get some rest from a hectic week."

Everyone cheered except for Danny. He quickly looked up at box 5 only to see the Phantom glaring down at him.

Danny was about to look away when he saw the Phantom motion to the lobby. Knowing exactly what the Phantom meant, Danny nodded and turned to Jazz.

"Uh…Jazz," Danny whispered. "Yeah Danny," Jazz said. "I'm gonna stay here for a bit," Danny said.

"Why?" Jazz asked. "To…uh…you know, look around and…stuff," Danny said sheepishly.

"Okay, just make sure you're back by 11:30," Jazz said checking her watch. "But that's only an hour!" Danny said trying to keep his voice down.

"That's enough time isn't it?" Jazz asked. "Yeah, I guess," Danny sighed. He didn't want to worry Jazz, but he didn't want the Phantom to kill him for leaving early either.

"Bye Danny," Jazz said as she left the theater. As soon as everyone left the theater, Danny slowly made his way to the vanity room. Before he reached the door, he felt something tap his shoulder.

He let out a loud shriek and turned around to see Meg Giry. "Meg! Hi! I was just…uh…" Danny started.

"Going to see the Phantom?" Meg asked suspiciously. Danny ran out of the lobby and into the house. Meg sighed and walked after him.

Danny found a hidden passage somewhere towards the back of the stage and hid in a room that closely resembled a dungeon. It was made up completely of gray stone. A stained glass picture of a woman made up one of the walls and dimly lit candles hung from the walls as well.

Danny wasn't even sure what he was doing, he couldn't stay there forever, the Phantom would find him and possibly kill him for not showing up and Meg might tell on him.

Suddenly, Danny heard footsteps coming his way. He turned to the door to see Meg coming down. She looked at him suspiciously and sang:

_Where in the world_

_Have you been hiding?_

_You can't run away_

_From fear_

_Will you please_

_Tell me your secret?_

_I can help you_

_Monsieur _

"I don't think you can," Danny said looking down at his feet miserably. "And why not?" Meg asked.

"I don't know," Danny answered, still not looking at her. "What's he doing to you?" Meg asked, although the tone of her voice made it seem as if she already knew.

Danny took a deep breath and said: "He forcing me to sing loud enough to bring some girl back."

Meg paused for a moment, apparently deep in thought when suddenly she asked: "Who?" "What?" Danny asked.

"Who's the girl?" Meg asked, again sounding like she already knew. "I think he said Christine," Danny sighed.

Meg looked Danny straight in the eyes. "Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want you or me to get hurt, that's why I'm doing this," Danny said.

He got up and headed for the stage. "Monsieur," Meg called. Danny turned around. Meg held her hand up to her eyes.

"I know," Danny said doing the same and kept walking. Even though he didn't know what, he knew Meg was telling him this for a reason.


	15. Chapter 15

_**-phew- Well guys, new chapter! Sorry I didn't update sooner, I was having trouble editing the lyrics for this part! Also, sorry if these chapters have been too short or boring for you all, I'm trying my best not to make the middle boring, trust me, the ending's good! –shifty eyes- Anyway, enjoy! **_

**Chapter 15: Miserable Child!**

Danny quietly slipped through the mirror and made his way through the labyrinth. When he reached the platform, he saw the Phantom sitting at the play set once again. As Danny quietly stepped onto the platform, the Phantom turned around and said: "you're late."

"Sorry, I-I was just…" Danny started. "Hiding?" the Phantom asked glaring straight into Danny's eyes.

"N-no, I-I just…uh...I was…" Danny started. The Phantom went back to his play set and started moving the dolls around. Danny carefully approached the Phantom and watched what he was doing.

He was moving the cast around in the blocking they had been taught and stopped half way through to pull out one doll Danny scarcely recognized. It was a woman with medium length brown hair and brown eyes.

"Who's that?" Danny asked. The Phantom glared at him. Danny realized that was a stupid question to ask.

"Christine," the Phantom replied flatly. "Right," Danny said slightly embarrassed. The Phantom looked back at the doll of Christine.

Danny could have sworn his eyes were playing tricks on him, but it almost looked like the Phantom was crying.

Without even thinking, Danny asked: "What's wrong?" The Phantom blinked a cuple of times and said: "Nothing, just…." He trailed off.

Danny sighed and started walking away. As he reached the edge of the platform, the Phantom asked: "Where do you think you're going?"

"I thought I'd leave you and your…doll…alone," Danny answered. That wasn't a good response, Danny thought, for the Phantom turned around and glared at him with ice cold eyes.

"What do you mean by that?" the Phantom hissed. "I-I j-j-just meant that…you…well, I didn't mean it like…uh…" Danny stammered.

He had no idea what to say. "Well?" the Phantom hissed louder. Danny was about to say something like: 'I didn't mean to insult you' or 'I'm sorry' but instead, the sentence that escaped his mouth was something more along the lines of: "Why do you want me to be so loud anyway?"

The Phantom stood up and set down the doll of Christine. "Do you have a problem with that?" he asked heatedly.

"Well, I mean, if you're just doing it to bring some girl back to you, why don't you go find her yourself?" Danny asked almost as heatedly as the Phantom had.

"I have my reasons," the Phantom said a little embarrassed. "What is it?" Danny snapped. "It's none of your business!" the Phantom replied.

"Is ANYTHING my business?" Danny shouted almost forgetting how afraid of the Phantom he was.

The Phantom said nothing, he stood in his spot, unsure of what to say. "Well? Why won't you tell me?" Danny asked, a little chocked up from yelling.

"You wouldn't understand," the Phantom said finally, sitting back down. "Why not? I mean, come on, what's so great about her anyway?" Danny asked.

Immediately after Danny had spoken, the Phantom got back up from his chair. Danny slapped his over his mouth, now remember how afraid he was of this masked man.

The Phantom drew his sword, pointed it straight at Danny, and asked: "What did you say?"

"I didn't mean it like that? I-I was just wondering? I mean, I bet she's great and all but…uh…" Danny stammered.

The Phantom put his sword away and said: "She is." "Yeah, uh…did you want me down here for a reason?" Danny asked.

"Yes," the Phantom said. "Okay, uh, why?" Danny asked. "You are to come here tomorrow to practice again," the Phantom said

"WHAT?! Can't I get a break?!" Danny cried. The Phantom glared down at him and replied:

_Miserable child . . .  
so young . . .  
so clueless . . .  
why do you think  
you're here? . . ._

"I….uh…" Danny stammered but the Phantom had cut him off:

_Insolent boy. . .  
You know your place here  
do as I say_

Or else!

The last to words the Phantom said were sharp and spin chilling. To make it worse for Danny, the Phantom had pulled his word out again and pointed it directly at Danny's chest.

Danny gulped and said: "Well, I guess I could come here tomorrow." "Good boy," the Phantom said putting his sword away.

Danny took a deep breath and said: "well, I guess I'll leave you to do your thing now." Before he could take a step the Phantom said: "I never excused you from your lesson tonight did I?"

"Right," Danny said walking over to the piano. As much as he didn't want to spend another second with the Phantom, Danny knew it was better then dying where he stood for disobeying him. He knew one thing for sure, Christine must be some awesome person if the Phantom was this obsessed. 


	16. Chapter 16

_**-people are sharpen pitchforks to throw at me- I'M BACK! –people lower pitchforks- I'm am SO sorry that took so long! For some reason, Word wasn't working and then when it did start working I was having writers block and…yeah! So anyway, I'm REALLY sorry for not updating sooner! But the chapter's nice and long (and there's some angsty stuff thrown in there because I can)**_

_**Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 16: Sunday Class!**

Danny didn't get back to the hotel until 3:00, much do Jazz's annoyance. As hard as he tried, Danny couldn't get to sleep. He wanted to know what was so wonderful about Christine. Considering he hadn't actually read the script other then to memorize his lines, he was stumped.

About two hours after he returned to the hotel, Danny finally got up and pulled out his script. And started reading from the beginning.

An hour later, the most Danny could understand was that Christine's father had died when she was seven, she was an amazing singer, and that she was in love with a fashionable man named Raoul.

Danny let out a long yawn and tried to continue reading the Masquerade scene, but his vision was going blurry. Finally, after trying his best to make out the word 'faces', he fell asleep.

At 10 o'clock that morning, Danny's eyes suddenly opened. He hadn't even realized he was no longer in his bed. He got up off of the floor and looked over at Jazz's bed to see she was still fast asleep.

Danny quickly scribbled a note to Jazz that read:

_**I'm gonna go take a walk. I'll be okay. Don't bother looking for me I'll come back.**_

_**-Danny**_

He quietly set the note on the table next to Jazz's bed and left for the Opera Populaire. Danny didn't bother to fly there since he didn't want to draw attention or even stay with the Phantom the whole day so he walked the whole way there.

When he was half way there, he stopped near the graveyard which wasn't too far from the Opera house.

He pulled out his script and started reading. Not too long after the Masquerade scene, Danny came to a part he had not expected.

The part Danny read was:

_**Raoul: Madame Giry, wait…**_

_**Madame Giry: Please monsieur I know no more then anyone else.**_

_**Raoul: That's not true!**_

_**Madame Giry: Monsieur, don't ask, there have been to many accidents.**_

_**Raoul: Accidents? Please, Madame Giry, for all our sakes.**_

_**Madame Giry: Very well!**_

Danny was about to continue reading when suddenly, his ghost sense went off and he heard a sweet soprano voice coming from the graveyard. He couldn't make out what the voice was singing but Danny was certain he had heard it from the show.

Danny looked around to find no one was looking. Carefully, Danny jumped over the fence and walked around the graveyard.

Surprisingly, no one was there. No ghosts. No humans. No one, at least Danny thought so. Danny decided to go to the Opera house. He figured whatever spook was in the graveyard was nothing compared to the Phantom.

As soon as Danny got into the lobby, he stopped dead center and looked over at the vanity room. It was closed all the way.

He opened his script back up and started to read it. He couldn't believe what he was reading.

The scene he was reading involved Madame Giry telling the story of hoe she met the Phantom.

It seemed Madame Giry was training to be a ballerina when she was a young girl and had gone to a traveling fair with some of the other ballerina girls. The traveling fair was gypsies. Danny had never known gypsies could be so…scary.

As Danny kept reading, he was shocked to find that one of the gypsies was taking the girls to see someone called the 'Devil's Child'. What was even more shocking was that this devil's child was the Phantom when he was a child.

Apparently, the Phantom had been born with a deformed face and was whipped by one of the gypsies who also called him the devil's child because of his appearance.

The other ballerina girls laughed and mocked the Phantom but Madame Giry sympathized him. Suddenly, after everyone but Madame Giry left, the Phantom rapped a rope around the throat of the gypsy who had whipped him and killed him.

Madame Giry helped the Phantom escape into the bottom of the Opera house. At the end of the scene, Danny slammed the script close and wiped away a tear.

For the first time since he met him, Danny felt sorry for the Phantom. Now he understood why the Phantom was so messed up.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. There were two people coming his way. Danny's heart skipped a beat and he turned in the direction of the footsteps.

It was Meg Giry and the blonde man Meg had called Henry. "Hey there boy, whacha doin' on your day off?" Henry asked.

"I…uh…just thought I would practice…you know….get a feeling for it and stuff," Danny lied.

"Be careful, the Opera ghost might catch ya," Henry said grabbing Danny's throat, causing Danny to flinch.

"Henry, go back to your post," Meg snapped. "Alright madam, but remember what I said kid, remember what I said," Henry said letting go of Danny's throat.

Danny gasped for a quick breath as Henry walked into the house. Meg was about to leave when Danny said: "Meg!"

Meg turned around. "Yes?" she replied. "Was…was the Phantom…..did he really…I mean…." Danny stammered.

He walked up to Meg and whispered: "Was he really in a traveling fair with a bunch of gypsies?"

Meg sighed. "Yes, my mother told me about it," she whispered back. "And did they really call him the devil's child just because he had a deformed face?" Danny asked trying not to show any sympathy to the matter.

"Yes," Meg said. Danny almost couldn't hold back his tears. He felt horrible about hating the Phantom so much now.

"Well, you'd better get going, he'll be waiting for you," Meg said. "What?" Danny asked.

"I know why you're really here Danny, just be careful," Meg said and walked off. Danny sighed.

He walked into the vanity room and through the mirror, his body shaking violently from shock.

He flew quietly to the platform and changed back into human form behind a portrait. Danny was almost afraid to talk to the Phantom now more then ever, for fear of accidentally bringing up the subject.

Danny took a deep breath and came out from behind the portrait. The Phantom was sitting at the organ again, playing an eerie song.

"Excuse me," Danny said. The Phantom slammed his hands down on the keys, making an ear splitting sound.

"Why did you interrupt me?" the Phantom snapped in Danny's direction. "I'm sorry, I just-you wanted me to come," Danny stammered.

"Right," the Phantom said turning back to the organ. Danny sighed. He watched the Phantom continue playing whatever it was he had started and let his mind drift off.

He wanted to talk to the Phantom about what he had just read, but he was sure the response would be another sword threat or use of the sword. Danny thought for a while, but he still wasn't sure.

When the Phantom stopped playing, he turned to Danny and asked: "Well? Are you here to practice or…"

Before the Phantom had a chance to finish, almost as if a switch had made it happen, Danny cut him off and asked: "Why are you like this?"

The Phantom glared at him. "What are you talking about?" Danny took a deep breath. He figured it wouldn't matter, he would just turn intangible and escape quickly if the Phantom got mad.

"W-why are you…so….um…" Danny stammered. The Phantom fixed his cold eyes on Danny, who now looked as if he was ready to cry.

"Why…d-do you…well I mean….what I mean is….uh….." Danny stammered. "Spit it out already? What is it?" the Phantom snapped.

"Were you really abused by gypsies when you were a kid?" Danny asked as quickly as he could.

Suddenly, there was a long silence. Neither of them moved. The Phantom's cold eyes were now wide with shock and fear. Danny thought he saw a tear roll down the Phantom's cheek but he wasn't sure.

Finally, the Phantom asked: "What did you say?" Danny gulped, shook his head and said: "Nothing, n-nothing, just-j-forget I mentioned it!"

The Phantom got up from his seat and walked up to Danny, his half masked nose touching Danny's. "What did you ask me?" his voice sounding angry, but also a little shaky.

"I-uh….didn't mean to," Danny said trying not to look the Phantom in the eyes, considering the Phantom really was crying.

In a split second, the Phantom snatched the script out of Danny's hand, moved away from Danny's face, and started flipping rapidly through the pages.

When he got towards the middle, he glared at Danny and said: "I see you've actually been _reading_ the script!"

"L-look, I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean…." Danny tried his best to apologize. Before he could say another word, the Phantom had ripped a page out of the script.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Danny cried. The Phantom dropped the script to the ground, held out the page he had just ripped out, pulled out a pipe lighter, and set the page on fire.

"WAIT! STOP!" Danny cried. He only got a glimpse of the words: _**The Phantom is left alone**_, before the fire turned the entire page into ashes.

"What was that for? Look, I'm sorry for asking but…." Danny started. The Phantom cut him off: "I will not go on living the way this play ended! This WILL end the way I want it to, and you're going to help me! Or else!"

Every word was clear, strict, and a little shaky. Danny tried his best not to take notice of the tears streaming down his and the Phantom's cheeks and said: "Right. Sorry."

There was a silence before the Phantom went back to the organ. "Uh, are we still practicing?" Danny asked, even though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"What do you think?" the Phantom hissed through his teeth. "Yes," Danny said. He picked up his script and walked over to the organ.

The whole lesson, Danny tried his hardest not to look at the Phantom, or ask him what was wrong every time he stopped playing. Their practice didn't end until 9:30. Danny was about to leave, until the Phantom stopped him.

"What?" Danny asked. "What did you read?" the Phantom asked, not bothering to look at Danny.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked. "In the script," the Phantom snapped. "Oh, uh, just some stuff, I forgot most of it," Danny lied.

"Tell the truth," the Phantom hissed. "Just some stuff about when you were younger," Danny said looking out at the glossy lake.

There was a long silence. Danny turned around to see the Phantom still sitting with his back turned to Danny.

"I-I'll just leave you alone," Danny said almost in a whisper. The Phantom said nothing. Danny carefully got in the boat, grabbed the oar, and started rowing himself to the mirror.

The Phantom turned around to see his boat was gone. He seemed to hardly notice it and went back to playing the organ.


	17. Chapter 17

_**Uh, heh, sorry this took longer then hoped to put up! I was going to put it up last Sunday but that didn't happen due to writers block and the fact I had acting camp this whole week! **_

_**Anyway, please enjoy! **_

**Chapter 17: Twisted Every Way!**

Danny didn't get home until 10:00. He found Jazz sitting on her bed reading one of her psychology books.

"Hi Jazz," Danny said. Jazz looked up from her book. "Oh, hi Danny, how long were you out? You've been gone for a while," she asked.

"I was just, you know, walking around, seeing the city and stuff," Danny lied. "Okay, as long as you didn't get into any trouble," Jazz said returning to her book.

"Right, no trouble," Danny muttered recalling everything that had just happened in the Phantom's lair.

The rest of the night, Danny lay wide awake in bed, looking at his open script every now and then to look at the spot where the Phantom tore a page out. He sighed and tried his hardest to get back to sleep, but the memory of the Phantom kept him awake.

The next week went on as usual. Danny rehearsed then went down to the Phantom's lair, trying his best not to make eye contact or even say anything that would set the Phantom off.

The week after that was costume rehearsal, which for Danny was extremely uncomfortable. The only thing that bothered him more then the suit he was wearing, causing him to always burn up, was the fact he had to wear make-up. Luckily, most of the make-up was covered by the half mask he had to wear.

"Nice outfit," Jazz smirked. "Ha, ha, funny," Danny said crossing his arms. "Just kidding, you look fine," Jazz said.

"I don't feel fine, I'm burning up in this suit and this mask is annoying," Danny said pulling off the mask and rubbing his nose.

"Uh, Danny, is there something wrong with your face?" Jazz asked looking shocked. "Yeah, I'm wearing make-up, why?" Danny asked.

"Uh, could you put the mask back on…please?!" Jazz asked sounding desperate. Danny shrugged and put the mask back on. He hadn't seen the make-up, he just knew he had it on.

"Alright people, places!" Gerald called from the audience. "Good luck Danny," Jazz said running to her seat.

"Thanks," Danny called after her. Danny went backstage for the beginning of the show and saw Henry walking by.

"Hey, uh, Henry?" Danny called. "What's up, kid?" Henry asked. "Does my make-up look okay, I think it kinda freaked my sister out," Danny asked taking off his mask.

"Well, I'll give ya this kid, you look the way you should," Henry said. "Uh, thanks, I guess," Danny said putting the mask back on.

"Good luck kid," Henry said and walked off. Danny went back stage and the rehearsal started.

When Danny finally went on stage, he looked up into box 5 briefly to see the Phantom sitting cross armed, motioning every so often to be louder.

For the scene they were in, the Phantom was leading Christine down into the labyrinth, which Danny found to look almost exactly like the real labyrinth. Jen was wearing a silky white night gown and was sitting in what looked like a boat on wheels and Danny was standing behind her, apparently rowing as Jen sang:

_Those who have seen your face_

_Draw back in fear_

_I am the mask you wear_

Danny finished:

_It's me they hear_

As Danny continued rowing, they both sang:

_My/your spirit and your/my voice_

_In one combined _

_The Phantom of the Opera is there_

_Inside my/your mind_

The Phantom uncrossed his arms and scouted forward as Danny sang:

_In all your fantasies_

_You always knew_

_That man and mystery_

Jen finished:

_Were both in you_

Then Danny joined in:

_And in this labyrinth_

_Where night is blind_

_The Phantom of the Opera is there_

_Inside my/your mind_

"Sing my angel of music," Danny said as he stopped rowing and he and Jen got out. Jen started to sing again:

_He's there_

_The Phantom of the Opera_

Suddenly, she began to vocalize strangely, her song became stronger as Danny commanded: "Sing for me, my angel of music!"

After Jen hit an extremely high note, Danny sang:

_I have brought you_

_To the seat of sweet music's throne_

_To this kingdom where all must pay homage to music_

_Music_

_You have come here _

_For one purpose and one alone_

_Since the moment I first heard you sing_

_I have needed you with me to serve me to sing all my music_

_My music_

As the rehearsal started to reach it's end, Danny sat down backstage and waited for his cue. His head popped up when he say Meg watching from the wings.

He got up and tapped Meg gently on the shoulder. "Bonjour monsieur," Meg said quietly smiling at Danny.

"Hi," Danny replied quietly. Meg looked at Danny's sunken face and asked: "Is something wrong monsieur?"

"It's not that I don't like the play it's just….I don't really want to do it, I never did, I just auditioned for it, I never thought it would go this far though," Danny sighed.

"Then why didn't you just try to leave when you started?" Meg asked. "I did. But then the Phantom kinda forced me to do it so he could get Christine back," Danny answered quietly in case the Phantom had snuck back stage.

"The Phantom is a desperate and miserable man, he does many crazy things," Meg said. Yeah, I've noticed," Danny said.

"He will do anything to bring Christine's ghost back," Meg sighed. "Ghost?" Danny asked in shock.

"Yes, Christine is dead," Meg said. Danny mouth hung open for a while. "What do you mean she's dead?!" Danny snapped.

"She died years ago, I'm not sure if the Phantom knows that though," Meg said. "So I'm stuck in this play because the Phantom doesn't know the girl he's obsessed with is dead?" Danny hissed.

"Yes, pretty much," Meg said. Danny clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles cracked and turned white.

"He…is such….a jerk!" Danny hissed. "He's gone through to much, don't tell him," Meg said.

"But he…" Danny started. "He loves her and it's best not to break his heart again, I know the Phantom of the Opera is a horrible person, but believe me monsieur, he's not evil, he's misunderstood. I admit I believed he was evil until my mother told me more about him," Meg said.

Danny sighed. "Just think of it this way, how would you feel if you had been abused and loathed your whole life because of your face, or if someone you cared about left you for someone else?" Meg asked.

Danny couldn't argue with that. He probably would end up in the Phantom's shoes if something like that had happened. "I won't tell him," Danny said,

Meg smiled. "You are a good boy Danny Fenton, now get ready, you're almost on," she said.

Danny smiled back and got ready to go on. Throughout the rest of the rehearsal, he avoided looking up at box 5 and at the end, as carefully as possible, avoided his lesson with the Phantom.

_**I don't think this chapter's as good as it could be but I hope you like it anyway! Please R&R with no flames! **_


	18. Chapter 18

_**I…am…SO…FREAKING SORRY for not updating in…what? Seven months or so? Gah!!! You can blame my freaking laziness and the fact I thought no one remembered this story even existed! But I'm updating! –Hallelujah chorus-Well, I hope this chapter makes up for my freaking lazy long period of not updating! Enjoy! And no flames please!**_

**Chapter 18: Before the Curtains Open**

For the next week, Danny had avoided the Phantom as best as he possibly could. He went through every dress rehearsal without even glancing up at box 5. Luckily, the Phantom had not once tried to stop him before he left, which Danny found suspicious but didn't really care.

On the night before the show after running through the show one last time, Gerald declared: "Wonderful work, everyone! I must say, our opening night is going to be a hit! Now everyone, go home, rest, and remember to be here at 6 pm!"

With that said, Danny ran to the dressing room. He was in and out before the rest of the cast and ran into the audience.

"Gerald's right Danny, you guys are gonna do great. Mom and dad are gonna love it," jazz said as Danny ran up to her.

"Mom and dad?" Danny asked. "Yeah, they just called a few seconds ago while you were getting dressed, they're coming to see they show, Tucker and Sam are coming too," Jazz said excitedly.

"Heh, cool," Danny said with barely a hint of enthusiasm. He was tired from all the rehearsing and was already half asleep as he spoke.

"So…are you taking your dress shoes home with you?" Jazz smirked. "What?" Danny looked down at his feet, he was still wearing his dress shoes.

"Whoops, heh, must have left my shoes in the dressing room." Danny thought aloud. "You go get them, I'll wait in the lobby," Jazz said walking out towards the lobby.

After carefully checking to see that no one was there, Danny transformed into his ghostly self and flew into the dressing room. He looked all over for his shoes but he couldn't find them.

"Huh…that's weird, maybe they're in the make-up room or something," Danny said to himself and flew into the make-up room. But his shoes weren't there either.

He flew all over the theater, he even flew into the girl's dressing room to see if they took his shoes as a prank, but he couldn't find them anywhere. He reverted back to his human form and sat at the edge of the stage.

He took off his dress shoes and said to himself: "Where could I have left them?" He got up and went to put his dress shoes in the dressing room. To his disbelief, when he opened the door, the Phantom stood in the doorway holding Danny's regular shoes.

Danny stood frozen in his spot. "I'll trade you," the Phantom said after a short silence, holding out Danny's shoes.

Danny gave the Phantom his dress shoes and the Phantom swapped them so Danny ended up holding his own shoes.

The Phantom threw the dress shoes aside and said: "Remember, _loud_!"

With that, the Phantom turned on his heels and walked away. Danny didn't even bother to put his shoes on, he ran straight for the lobby.

"Whoa! Careful Danny! You shouldn't run with your socks on! You might slip!" Jazz warned as Danny slid into the lobby.

"Sorry," Danny said stopping to put his shoes on. "Glad you finally found them, what took so long?" Jazz asked.

"Uh…my shoes got caught in between a costume piece, sorry," Danny lied. "Alright, come on, you need to get some rest before tomorrow," Jazz said.

"Heh, yeah rest," Danny yawned. When he and Jazz got home, Danny immediately feel asleep.

Spontaneously through out the night, Danny kept having dreams of messing up a line or not singing loud enough and almost getting his head cut off by the Phantom, only to wake up and find he was still in his bed.

It wasn't long before 4 in the morning when Danny finally kept himself awake. "Okay Danny, just calm down, nothing bad is going to happen," Danny told himself.

As hard as he tried, he couldn't entirely convince himself that he was really ready for the performance. Danny finally got out of bed and went over to the window. He stared out into the twinkling night sky and transformed into his ghost form. He flew out the window and aimlessly flew over the streets of Paris.

After a while as the sun began rising, Danny flew over the cemetery near the Opera house. It was faint, but he could've sworn he heard singing coming from the one of the graves. Curiosity took over Danny and he flew into the direction of the singing.

As he flew closer and closer to the voice, his ghost sense went off. Danny became even more interested in whoever could be singing at that point and for a split second, thought he saw back of a brown haired woman. As he got even closer, he could she it really was.

"Hello…" Danny whispered as he paused behind a tombstone. The woman didn't even flinch, she just continued singing. Danny noticed she was glowing, so she must have been a ghost.

"Hello," Danny said a little louder. Still, the woman did not turn around. Danny cautiously approached her. He stretched his arm out to tap her shoulder when suddenly he heard someone yell: "HEY YOU!"

Danny flinched and turned around to see two police officers. "What are you doing here?" one of the police officers asked in a thick French accent.

"I…I'm just…"Danny stuttered. He turned back to look at the girl only to find that she was gone.

"Monsieur, we asked you a question, what are you doing here?" the other police officer asked.

"Well…I…um…" Danny stuttered as he continued to stare at the spot where the woman had just been.

The first police officer grabbed Danny's chin and wheeled his head in his direction. "Who are you monsieur?" he asked glaring into Danny's eyes.

"You look very odd, you look about fourteen years old but you have white hair." The second police officer said looking confused at Danny's present appearance.

"Oh, I-uh-I'm with the theater, and….uh…this is just, hair die," Danny said pointing to the Opera house then to his hair.

"Well that makes more sense," the second police officer said. "That still doesn't give you any reason to be here," the first police officer said gripping Danny's chin tighter.

"Well I…uh…thought I saw someone else here," Danny said quickly. "Well we didn't see anyone else here, just you," the first police officer said, his nose now an inch from Danny's.

"I'm…I'm sorry, I won't come here again," Danny said. "Good, we've forbidden anyone to come here since that crazy old woman said she saw the Phantom of the Opera, this place causes too many illusions, it's just a death trap waiting to happen," the first police officer explained letting go of Danny's chin.

"Right," Danny said breathlessly as he rubbed his now aching chin. The police officer's walked Danny out of the graveyard then set off to continue patrolling the city.

"Take care young man," the second police officer said. "Thanks," Danny said. As soon as the police officers were out of site, Danny flew back to the hotel room.

"That's weird, oh well, it's probably just a harmless ghost anyway," Danny thought aloud.

He yawned and thought: 'I should probably get to sleep, I've a show to do after all.' Danny transformed back into a human and crawled back into bed. Before Danny even had the chance to close his eyes, Jazz poked her head out of the bathroom and said: "Wake up sleepy head, we've got a big day today."

"Jazz, it's still night time," Danny moaned pulling the covers over his head. "Danny, it's six in the morning," Jazz said as she brushed her hair.

Danny looked at the clock, it was 6 o'clock. "I've been up for two hours," Danny whined to himself.

"Come on, get dressed, we're going to pick up mom and dad at the airport," Jazz explained pulling on Danny's arm.

"Fine," Danny groaned. He rolled out of bed and slowly started getting ready. After about 15 minutes of getting ready, Jazz finally pulled Danny out of the hotel and the two of them walked to the airport.

"Okay, keep an eye out for our parents or Tucker or Sam, okay?" Jazz asked. "What, yeah sure," Danny yawned sleepily.

Instead of trying to look, Danny started falling asleep, subconsciously running through his lines under his breath. Suddenly, he felt a sharp jab in his side. His eyes snapped open and he saw Jazz bouncing up and down, waving her arm franticly at their parents, Tucker, and Sam.

"Oh kids, I'm so happy to see you," Maddie said pulling her children into a big hug. "Mom! I'm glad you guys could make it!" Jazz said squeezing her mother tightly.

"I'm just glad that plane ride's over, my stomach's hurting," tucker complained holding his stomach.

"You wouldn't have gotten so sick if you hadn't have eaten two orders of Nasty burger before getting on the plane," Sam said crossing her arms.

'"Hey, it's better then that airplane food!" Tucker protested.

Meanwhile, Jack was hugging Jazz as well as Maddie. "Boy we haven't seen you kids in at least three or four months, how've you been?" he asked.

"I've been good, Danny's been pretty busy, right Danny? Uh…Danny?" Jazz asked looking at Danny who had fallen asleep again.

"What?! Oh, right, busy…me…play….sleepy…..PHANTOM!" Danny said drifting in and out of sleep.

His family and friends stared at him, thinking he must have lost his mind. "Uh, yeah, sorry, I'm just sleepy," Danny said rubbing his eyes.

Tucker and Sam ran up to Danny and practically hugged him to death. "Danny we've missed you!" Sam said letting go of Danny.

"Yeah, Amity Park's just not the same without you dude, so how were rehearsals?" Tucker asked, also letting Danny go.

"Uh…" Danny didn't know what to say. He wasn't about to tell his friend's a psycho maniac was forcing him to be in the play to bring back a girl he didn't even realize was dead.

"It's been good, heh, so…how's the play going back at Casper High?" Danny asked trying to change the subject a bit.

"Ugh! I thought my ears would bleed when Paulina started singing!" Sam said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and don't even get us started on Dash man, I don't know how Lancer even let him be in the play!" Tucker said.

Suddenly, Jack and Maddie pulled Danny into their arms. "Danny! How've you been son?" Jack asked.

"I've been…good," Danny lied. "Oh! I missed you honey!" Maddie said smothering Danny's cheeks in wet, sloppy kisses.

"Heh, I missed you to mom," Danny said turning pink. "Can't wait to see you on stage Danny," Tucker said.

"The show looks great, I think you guys will be impressed," Jazz said brightly. "Yeah, just great," Danny said hoping that by some miracle, the Phantom didn't show up in box 5 during the performance.

_**Sorry, I'm stopping there! –ducks flying objects readers have been itching to use for months- Sorry, but I'll probably be able to update around the holidays. Well, I hope you liked the chapter, and if not, again, no flames please!**_


	19. Chapter 19

I AM ALIVE

_**I AM ALIVE! Not that anyone cares unless of course you like this story. Anyway, sorry I haven't updated lately, I spend way too much time on deviantART (probably a good thing, I draw better than I write in my opinion) anyway, I figured I'd update since I've gotten back into the habit of writing fanfic's (I'm currently working on a DP fanfic called Stellar) Well, I'll try my best on the rest of this story, I've got the whole thing planned out in my head but I just need to work on the details a little…and besides, the ending, I think, Is a little sappy and cheesy so I'll need to work on that.**_

_**Well, anyway, enjoy! R&R w/NO FLAMES please!**_

**Chapter 19: The Curtains Open**

_Seal my fate tonight_

_I hate to have to cut the fun short_

_But the joke's wearing thin_

_Let the audience in_

_Let my opera begin!_

The Phantom adjusted his mask, threw on his cape, and marched out of his liar. The show was going to start in two minutes. Finally, his plan would unfold and he would have Christine with him once again.

Meanwhile in the dressing room, Danny stared blankly at his half masked face in the mirror.

"Places everyone, the show's only two minutes away," Bernard announced to the cast.

Danny sighed. It would be over before he knew it and by the time the show was done, he could go back to Amity Park and hopefully forget all about everything that happened. He tied his cape tightly around his neck and walked out into one of the wings.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming this evening to see the Opera Populaire's production of The Phantom of the Opera," Danny heard Gerald greet the audience.

"Please turn off your cell phones or any other electronic device and enjoy the show," Bernard said.

The audience clapped and Gerald and Bernard walked off the stage and into their seats.

Danny breathed in and held it for a minute until finally letting it out again. "break a leg," someone whispered.

Danny turned around to see Meg Giry was standing right behind him. "Thanks," Danny said sounding a little paranoid.

"Don't worry, this will be over before you know it," Meg said.

Danny sighed, "I know, but what if he…" he never finished his sentence for he soon realized Meg had walked away from him.

The curtains opened to reveal an auctioneer, a porter, and various other actors. The auctioneer banged his gavel on his podium and said: "Sold. Your number, sir? Thank you. Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen: a poster for this house's production of _Hannibal _by Chalumeau."

"Showing here," the porter said holding up a dusty old poster.

"Do I have ten francs? Five then. Five I am bid…" the auctioneer said.

Danny didn't listen to the rest, he didn't have to go on for a while. He lingered in the wings as the play continued. He turned invisible and stepped out on stage to overlook the audience. He could see his family and friends all sitting in the middle row. Jack and Maddie were watching the performance looking very interested. Jazz was watching and occasionally mouthing the words since she had heard them so many times already. Sam was trying to watch but Tucker kept whispering to her. There was no doubt in Danny's mind tucker was bugging her about how "fly" or "hot" one of the actresses were.

Danny chuckled softly to himself and looked around. As he looked up at box 5, his heart sunk. The Phantom was watching the performance with a stern face, every few seconds looking at the open windows and doors, probably hoping that Christine would through. Danny was hoping she would to, and then the Phantom would leave him alone. But there was no chance of that happening, Christine was dead, whether the Phantom knew it or not, she was.

Danny wondered what would happen If he told the Phantom Christine was dead. He imagined walking up to Phantom, telling him Christine was dead, and then getting strangled to death with the Phantom's Punjab lasso. Danny gulped and ran off stage. He turned visible and went to his spot for the next scene, it was his turn to go on.

For the entire scene between Christine and the Phantom, Danny never looked out into the audience, and if he did, he avoided looking at box 5 at all costs.

When Danny finally got to go back stage, he slumped into a chair in the makeup room and closed his eyes. Maybe he could fall asleep and not have to worry about the rest of the show. _No_, he thought. _The Phantom would kill me, not to mention Gerald and Bernard would yell and lecture me about how 'a good actor is always ready for his scene'. And my family and friends wouldn't like it either…coming all the way out here to see me screw up._

Danny opened his eyes and noticed there was a flickering bulb on one of the lights around the mirror. He sighed and got up out of his chair. The actors were in the middle of the _Notes _scene, he had to sing off stage for this. He waited for his cue and started to sing:

_Christine Daae has returned to you_

_And I am anxious her career should progress_

_In the new production of 'Il Muto'_

_You will therefore cast Carlotta as the age boy_

_And put Miss Daae in the role of Countess_

_The role which Miss Daae plays _

_Calls for charm and appeal _

_The role of the pageboy is silent which makes_

_Y casting in a word_

_Ideal _

"I will watch the performance from my normal seat in box five which _will_ be kept empty for me. If these commands are not met, a disaster beyond your imagination will occur," Danny recited.

A shiver ran down his spine as he spoke. He had the worst feeling of himself being the real Phantom of the Opera.

_**Okay, it's kinda sort and there's not a lot of talking (which normally makes things more interesting in my opinion) but anyway…yeah…sorry this isn't that great but I hope it's at least decent. R&R with no flames please!**_


	20. Chapter 20

-jazz hands-I'm BAAACK

_**-jazz hands-I'm BAAACK!! Yeah, I know, it's not that great…lol….Well, again, I'm sorry I've been taking, like, three month breaks with this story, I've been trying to write more for my Stellar fanfic (which I personally think is better than this one but what do I know, I'm just the writer…) **_

_**Anyway, I have the rest of the story planned out in my head and there are about –counts on fingers-six chapters left…I hope you like them Just so you know, this chapter's a little…well…I guess violent would be the best word for it, so just be prepared for that…**_

_**And expect a TON of fanfictions to come after this one! So many plot bunnies have formed in my head Well, enjoy! R&R with NO FLAMES please!**_

**Chapter 20: The Magical Lasso**

_Serafimo_

_Away with this pretence_

_You cannot speak_

_But kiss me in my…_

The actress playing Carlotta let out a loud croak. The audience began to laugh. As 'Carlotta' continued to sing, she began croaking when she attempted a high note. The audience erupted with laughter as Danny bellowed his line from behind the wings:

"BEHOLD! SHE IS SINGING TO BRING DOWN THE CHANDELIER!"

A shiver went up his spin, once again feeling like the real Phantom when he spoke his lines.

"That Opera Ghost is one messed up guy, dontcha think kid?" Danny heard Henry ask from behind him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Pretty messed up," Danny answered sheepishly.

"Heh. You know, I almost feel sorry for ya, havin' to play some whacked up freak!" Henry said playfully punching Danny's arm.

"W-well, it's not exactly…_bad_…to play him….I mean, he wasn't _always_ messed-up," Danny pointed out.

"Yeah, well he turned out pretty messed up dontcha think? I'd hate to come face to face a guy like 'im. He might try to catch ya with his…_magical lasso_!" Henry said eerily, quickly cupping his hands around Danny's neck.

Danny flinched and grabbed Henry by the wrists. "Ha! See? Scary in' nit?" Henry asked letting go of Danny's neck.

"Heh, yeah, scary…" Danny said almost breathlessly.

"But it's okay, I doubt the Phantom would wanna do ya in. I dunno why he'd wanna do _you _any harm, even though he is a murderous raving lunatic," Henry said.

Danny shivered a little. "Yeah…murderous… lunatic…raving…yeah," he sputtered.

Henry chuckled. "I'm jus' playin' with ya kid. There's nothin' to worry about," he assured Danny.

"Right," Danny replied dryly.

"Well, see ya later. Almost time to drop the dummy. See ya 'round kid," Henry said leaving for the catwalk.

Danny sighed. He looked back at the stage to see the ballet had just begun. Above the actions happening on the stage, Henry was readying the drop of the Joseph Buquet dummy. Danny shuddered at the thought of the Phantom strangling someone to death. He tried his hardest not to image what it would be like to do, or even watch, such a thing happen. Henry had a point, the Phantom did turn out pretty messed up.

A hopeful urge swept over Danny's body and he turned invisible. He rushed out onto the stage and looked up at box 5. The Phantom was no longer inside it. Danny could hardly believe it. Did this mean Christine indeed had a ghost and it had returned to the Phantom? Did the Phantom lose interest in the show already and decided to leave? The second idea wasn't likely, Danny decided. But where did he go?

Just then, a spin chilling thought entered Danny's mind. What if the Phantom was somewhere backstage? With that thought deeply planted in his head, Danny ran backstage. Still invisible, Danny saw the shadowy figure of the Phantom climbing up to the catwalk. A look of pure annoyance was stretched across his face and held tightly in his left hand was his infamous lasso. Danny noticed the Phantom was glaring up at Henry. Danny's guess was that the Phantom had over heard their conversation of how he was a mad lunatic, or he saw him as some kind of reincarnation of Joseph Buquet (whom to Danny's knowledge had also insulted the Phantom).

A wave of panic washed over Danny and he suddenly found himself running right at the Phantom. Quick as a flash, the Phantom had reached the edge of the cat walk and was looping a noose out of his lasso. Danny grabbed the hand rails and started climbing as fast as possible. He was only half way up when he realized he could've just flown up. Pushing himself to the side, the kicked his legs downward and flew up to the edge of the catwalk.

The Phantom was slowly edging towards Henry, who was staring down at the ballet dancers waiting to drop the dummy. The Phantom stretched out his black gloved hand tapped Henry twice on the shoulder. Henry flinched and almost dropped the dummy. His eyes widened in fear as the Phantom glared down at him.

"There won't be any need for that dummy," the Phantom hissed as he snatched the dummy and cast it aside.

"I-it's you! The-the Opera Ghost…the Phantom of the Opera!" Henry rasped, feeling his breath leave him. Beads of sweat ran down his face.

"Exactly," the Phantom said holding out his lasso.

Henry's eyes grew wider and the sweat began to pour down his face. "Now, what was that you said about my _magical lasso_?" the Phantom asked

Without hesitation, Henry darted for the other end of the cat walk. The Phantom followed him. Danny darted after the both of them. As he turned visible, Danny snatched the end of the Phantom's cape and pulled it back hard. The Phantom grabbed part of the cape as he started to stumble backward. Henry continued to run without looking back.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Phantom snapped.

He threw his lasso at Henry's feet and yanked hard enough to make Henry fall flat on his face. Danny turned invisible as the Phantom turned to face him. The Phantom looked puzzled when realized his cape was hovering in mid air. Danny gave a sharp pull and the Phantom was being pulled back, Henry's left leg was also being dragged along.

As Danny pulled the Phantom backward, he looked down to see that some of the ballet dancers were looking up, no doubt wondering why the dummy hadn't fallen yet. Even in their confusion, they continued to dance.

Danny reached his hand out and tried his hardest to pry the lasso out of the Phantom's hand. As the Phantom felt an invisible force pulling against his fingers, he swung his elbow back and socked Danny square in the stomach. Danny clutched his stomach from the impact, accidentally letting go of the Phantom's cape.

Now free of the invisible grip, the Phantom sat upright and pulled Henry toward him. Henry clawed for any rope he could to stop himself from being pulled to his demise. The Phantom began to laugh wickedly. Danny ran for the Phantom as Henry drew nearer to him. Hearing Danny's footsteps, the Phantom swung his free arm around and smacked Danny across the masked side of his face. Danny grabbed hold of a dangling rope to stop himself from falling.

Meanwhile, out in the audience, Gerald and Bernard were growing impatient. "Why hasn't Henry dropped the bloody dummy yet?"

"Leave it to a stage hand to try and build up the suspense," Bernard muttered.

The ballet dancers continued dancing, improvising many of their steps while accidentally bumping into each other during the process. Some of the audience members began muttering to one another, wondering whether something should've happened already. Jazz was exceptionally confused, considering she had already watched the scene enough times to know when everything happened.

Back stage, Meg was squinting to see the catwalk. Although her eyesight was going, she swore she saw Danny pulling himself up with the help of a rope..

"What in the world…?" she wondered aloud, though barely audible above a whisper.

She dug deep into her pockets and pulled out a pair of rectangular glasses. She quickly put them on and saw clearly the figure of Danny running across the cat walk. She couldn't see anything else from where she was standing but she had a feeling the Phantom was up there as well.

"Be careful, Danny," she whispered in a worried tone.

Back on the cat walk. "So, you think I'm a lunatic do you?! Well, I'll show you how much of a lunatic I can be!" the Phantom jeered as he fastened the noose around Henry's throat.

"P-Please, spare me! I-I didn' mean what I said. I was only jokin'…Please don't hurt me!" Henry pleaded with a look of fear in his eyes.

"Why? So you can continue with your little _jokes_? No. One less person to mock me will make things all better," the Phantom hissed, each word sharp and venomous.

He tightened the lasso and Henry grabbed it in a desperate attempt to stop it. As hard as he tried, it was no use. The Phantom was far stronger then Henry and managed to pulled the lasso so tight, Henry barely had it in him to pull it away.

Suddenly, Danny cupped his hands around the Phantom's neck. The Phantom grabbed Danny's fingers with his right hand and tried to pull them off. It took a lot of his strength to do so, but Danny gripped tighter so the phantom wouldn't be able to break free. The Phantom finally let go of the lasso and tried to pull Danny's fingers away with both hands.

"Ugh! Henry! Run! Get out of here!" Danny ordered, still trying to keep a good hold on the Phantom's throat.

"I-I think…this is it for me k-kid…ju-just get out of here…save yourself….don't let him getcha…" Henry gasped. Slowly, the life began to leave his eyes.

"No…" Danny whispered.

Just then, the Phantom pushed Henry aside with his foot and Henry's corpse fell from the cat walk.

"NO!" Danny cried.

Henry's body hung limply from the platform. The ballet dancer's screamed and ran into the wings. The audience jumped at the sudden outburst on the stage. They all thought it was still part of the play, but Danny knew.

The Phantom successfully pulled away from Danny's grip and began pulling the lifeless body back up. Jen and the actor who played Raoul ran on stage to do their scene. The actors must've thought that Henry was the dummy. Danny pushed himself up and lunged for the Phantom.

"How could you do…?!" Danny was cut of as the Phantom swiftly struck Danny across the nose.

Danny covered his nose and gave out a muffled cry pain.

"Get back to your place. This is none of your business," the Phantom hissed.

Anny wiped away a small tear and some of the blood that dripped from his nose as he watched the Phantom and Henry's body disappear in a flash.

_**Ugh! I hate writing about people dying, but it moves the plot along. Yeah, sorry to anyone who's not big on character deaths, but this is the only time anyone actually dies, I promise! **_

_**So yeah, I'm just wondering, did anyone have a feeling Henry was gonna get croaked? Because incase some of you weren't sure, he's pretty much representing Joseph Buquet who was the one that got hung by the Phantom. And just so you know incase this wasn't obvious either (which I'm not sure it was ; ) Gerald and Bernard represent Firmin and Andre, and Meg represents herself and her mother Madam Giry.**_

_**I'm sure most of you might've picked that up, but if you didn't, now you know . Well, I'll try to update sooner this time, I really want to start putting up some new fanfiction stories and not have to worry so much about this darn one…-faints-**_

_**Well, I hope it was an okay chapter. R&R with NO FLAMES please!**_


	21. Chapter 21

_**Uh…heh, heh….wow! I've been REALLY lazy with this story haven't I? Um, well….here's an update :D After…well let's see…-counts on fingers- o.o heh, five months….well here ya go….enjoy! R&R w/NO FLAMES please!**_

**Chapter 21: Past the Point of No Return**

Danny rushed out the back doors when intermission came. "Danny! Where are you going?" Jen asked in shock.

Danny ignored her and looked around. The Phantom was nowhere to be seen and neither was Henry's body. Shaking violently, Danny shuffled back into the theater.

"Henry! HENRY! Where is he?" Danny heard Gerald calling.

Danny froze. What was he supposed to say? The _real_ Phantom of the Opera just _hung_ him and used him as the dummy! Yeah right! Like they'd ever believe that!

Cautiously, Danny walked up to Gerald and Bernard, who were frantically looking around for their stage hand. "Uh, Gerald…" Danny began timidly.

"Not now Danny! We're looking for Henry. You haven't seen him anywhere have you?" Gerald asked hurriedly.

This caused Danny to sweat. "I…..I….." he stammered.

"Well, have you?" Bernard asked.

"W-well….I-I saw him….earlier….but…." Danny didn't know what to say.

"Well, have you seen him since the ballet scene? We checked up there and he's gone!" Gerald explained.

"I could've _sworn_ I saw some blood up there," Bernard added in a whisper.

Hearing this, Danny subconsciously wiped his nose, staining his white gloves with blood.

"Where is that damn stage hand? We've got ten minutes before the second act!" Gerald bellowed checking his watch.

"He's sick!" Danny blurted out suddenly.

The directors stared at Danny in surprise.

"Sick?" Gerald asked in disbelief.

"What do you mean he's sick?" Bernard asked.

"He…he wasn't feeling good, he was coughing a lot….so….he-he said he was gonna go home! He wanted me to tell you guys…sorry. I almost forgot!" Danny lied quickly, giving them a fake smile.

Gerald rolled his eyes and wiped his forehead. "Great! It's almost the second act and we don't have ANYONE to fill in for Henry!" he bellowed.

The cast flinched in shock. "Well, what are we going to do?" Bernard asked.

An idea popped into Danny's head. "I know someone who can help," he smiled.

"Who could you possibly know who knows the whole play and what goes on back stage?" Bernard asked.

Danny smiled.

In the lobby, the Fenton's, Tucker, and Sam were all talking about the play so far. "I've gotta admit I'm impressed. I didn't know Danny could sing so well," Jack praised his son.

"Me neither. I'm sure he must be having fun," Maddie said.

"Yeah, especially with all those hot girls in the cast," Tucker added.

Sam gave Tucker a sharp jab in the side. "I'm sure there's more things to be excited about in the theater than just _girls_, Tucker," she said acidly.

"Pff…yeah right," Tucker said.

Jazz giggled. Just then, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around to see no one was there. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear: "Meet me outside."

"Uh, could you excuse me for a second?" Jazz asked. "I have to go get something…outside."

"Okay honey, but remember to come back. Intermission's almost over," Maddie said checking her watch.

"Okay," Jazz smiled and rushed outside.

She looked around. There was no one there. "Hello, Danny?" Jazz asked into the emptiness.

"Boo!" Danny popped up in front of her.

Jazz shrieked and Danny giggled. "Danny!" Jazz squealed.

"Sorry! I needed a laugh," Danny laughed.

"Well, what is it? Are you having ghost trouble?" Jazz asked.

_Would 'Opera Ghosts' apply?_ Danny wondered to himself. "Not exactly…" he answered.

"Well, what is it?" Jazz asked.

"Well, you know the stage hand, Henry?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I watched him work up there when I was waiting for you during dress rehearsal," Jazz said.

"Yeah…well…he's kinda sick and had to go home…" Danny began.

"What?! But who'll work up on the catwalk?" Jazz asked in shock.

Danny laughed smally and looked at Jazz. Something clicked in the back of Jazz's head. "What?! No way! I can't!" she shrieked.

"Come on, Jazz! You know all the cues, you've seen how Henry does everything…" Danny pointed out.

"No, Danny! I'm not doing it! What if I mess up?!" Jazz fussed.

"You won't mess up! Please?" Danny pleaded.

"No!" Jazz stated.

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"No!"

"Please?"

"NO!"

"Jazz!"

"Danny!"

- - -

"Attention everyone!" Gerald called for the audience's attention as they took their seats.

"Where's Jazz? She's gonna miss it," Maddie fidgeted as the Fenton's took their seats.

"It seems one of our stage hands is sick and can't help us for the rest of the show," Gerald continued.

The audience gasped and whispered. Did this mean the show was cancelled?

"Fortunately, we have a substitute," Gerald added quickly.

"So you can all thank Miss Jasmine Fenton for taking the place of our stage hand for the rest of the night," Bernard announced.

Everyone cheered. Jack and Maddie got up. "THAT'S OUR DAUGHTER!!!" Jack cried.

"Oh! Both my babies are in the show now!" Maddie cried with joy.

Sam and Tucker clapped as well.

Meanwhile on the cat walk, Jazz was putting on some work gloves. "You think you can handle the ropes?" Danny asked playfully.

"I think so," Jazz said taking a rope that lowered one of the set pieces.

"You'll do fine," Danny encouraged.

"Thanks Danny," Jazz smiled.

Danny smiled back and flew down into the wings. He reverted back to his human form dressed in all red and a skull mask.

Jazz did very well throughout most of the show. There were a few cues she was a little shaky on, like lowering a set piece too early or slightly late, but other than that, she had been doing a good job. Danny gave Jazz a 'thumbs up' as he walked off stage after the graveyard scene.

Before Danny knew it, the Don Juan scene had started. Danny pulled his hood over his head and waited for his cue. He looked up at the cat walk to see Jazz leaning over as far as she could to see what was happening. Danny sighed. It wasn't that he wasn't happy his sister was helping him (although her helped had occasionally gotten him into trouble) but he still felt bad for having someone take Henry's place. Yes, Henry had been a loud mouth and a little harsh towards the Phantom, but he wasn't such a bad guy. He was definitely right about the Phantom being a murderous raving lunatic though.

In a fit of anger, Danny turned invisible and stormed out onto the stage. Don Juan was still singing so he had some time let before he actually _had_ to go on. The Phantom was sitting in Box 5, watching the show attentively.

Danny felt a surge of hatred build up inside him. Everything that had been happening to him was the Phantom's fault. None of this would've happened were it not for _him_. Danny could've been home right about now, Jazz wouldn't be up on a rickety blood stained catwalk, and Henry would probably still be alive. How did the Phantom even know about Danny in the first place? Danny didn't have time to think about it. He had to get backstage.

Turning visible, Danny began walking to his spot when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He turned to see Meg Giry.

"I know," Danny said holding his hand to his eyes.

"That's not what I was going to say," Meg said calmly.

Danny stared at her for a moment.

"Look, I need to get to me spot," he tried to prey away from Meg's grip.

For an old woman, Meg had a pretty strong grip. "Listen to me, you can' do this anymore. It's gone too far," Meg tried to explain.

"Look, I need to go on!" Danny said pushing Meg away and rushing to his place.

Meg sighed. "Be careful, ghost boy," she whispered.

As Jen sat down on the bench that was on stage, Danny stepped out on stage and began singing:

_Go away_

_For the trap is set_

_And waits for it's prey_

He paused as Jen froze in her place. Danny knew she wasn't actually scared and continued singing:

_You have come here_

_In pursuit of your deepest urge_

Danny noticed the Phantom making a small motion to sing higher. Twitching with anger, Danny looked away. Meg was right, this had gone too far.

_In pursuit of that wish  
Which till now has been silent…_

Danny's voice became quieter and quieter with each word:

_Silent . . ._

Danny took a deep breath and closed his mouth tightly. The music continued playing but Danny didn't utter a single word. Jen turned to stare at him.

'What are you doing?' she mouthed.

Danny shrugged. There were a couple of mutters from the audience and from backstage as they noticed nothing was happening. Jazz stared at Danny from the catwalk. "What are you doing?" she hissed, trying to get his attention. "Why aren't you singing?"

Danny looked up and whispered: "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?" Jazz asked in a loud whisper.

The audience was completely baffled. "What is he doing?" Bernard asked in shock.

"Please don't tell me he's lost his voice," Gerald pleaded as he rubbed his forehead.

The Phantom glared at Danny. His dark blue eyes began to dilate and shrink as he clutched his chair arm in rage. "Sing…" he hissed.

Danny stood on the stage. He had had enough. He wasn't going to sing for the Phantom. It had already put enough people in danger and had even taken a life. He was _not_ going to sing.

"Sing boy…" the Phantom hissed louder.

The audience began whispering in confusion. Danny looked out into the audience and saw all the shocked and confused faces. He didn't dare look at his family, friends, or the directors, already knowing what their expressions would be.

The Phantom began to shake violently. His anger surged. He could no longer contain himself. Rising from his seat, the Phantom bellowed a' loud as vocally possible: "SING DAMN YOU!!!"

All attention turned to Box 5. Everyone gasped in shock. Danny glared at the Phantom as he pulled his hood off.

"NO!" he shouted back.

"SING DAMMIT!" the Phantom shouted.

"NO! I'M NOT YOU'RE SLAVE!" Danny shouted back.

That had done it. The Phantom pulled out his lasso and threw it at the chandelier that hung over the audience. He jumped off of the edge of Box 5 and swung over the terrified audience members. He landed on his feet in the middle of the stage and advanced toward Danny.

"Oh my god! It's him!" Gerald gaped.

"It's the real Phantom of the Opera," Bernard trembled.

"Huh…I don't remember this being in the show," Sam said in surprise.

"Maybe they added it to increase the suspense or something," Tucker suggested.

"Wow! This show is even better than I thought," Jack stated. Maddie nodded in agreement.

The Phantom grabbed Danny's collar and hissed: "sing, or I'll kill you!"

"You don't control me," Danny hissed in response.

The Phantom twitched in anger.

"Who are you?" Jen asked in shock.

The Phantom turned to face her. His grim expression caused her to flinch. The Phantom dragged Danny to the edge of the stage.

"I am the Phantom of the Opera!" the Phantom announced.

There was murmuring and shrieks amongst the audience and cast members. "Yes! And if you're wondering where your precious stage hand is, Gerald and Bernard, he's gone! For good! I killed him!"

Gerald and Bernard gasped in shock. A feeling of guilt swept over them, they felt they had mistreated Henry.

"Yes. I killed the stage hand! And I'll do it again!" the Phantom said pulling his lasso off the chandelier and looking up at Jazz, who was frozen in shock.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Danny shouted trying his hardest to push the Phantom to his knees.

The Phantom instead grabbed Danny by the scruff of the neck and hoisted him into the air. "And this boy here has disobeyed me! He went against me as did the stage hand! And for that, he will pay! And if anyone else does so, they to will pay!"

"Don't you hurt them!" Danny waved around frantically.

"Silence boy!" the Phantom snapped.

He ran to the middle of the stage, snapped his fingers, and a cloud of dust appeared. In an instant, Danny and the Phantom had disappeared through a trapped down in the center of the stage.

_**A cliffhanger! MWAHAHAHA!!! I'm so evil XD but in a good way I promise lol Anyway, I know it's short, but I hope you like it non-the-less. R&R w/NO FLAMES please!**_


	22. Chapter 22

_**WOW! It's about doggone time I updated this freaking story, eh? –sigh-Well, hope you enjoy it! 8D**_

**Chapter 22: The Man Behind the Mask**

_Down once more to the dungeon of my black despair_

_Down we plunge to the prison of my mind_

_Down that path into darkness deep as hell!_

Leading the way by torchlight, the Phantom dragged a squirming Danny down through the labyrinth.

"Let go of me! What are…?!" Danny started.

The Phantom wheeled on him and barked:

_Why, you ask,  
was I bound and chained  
in this cold and dismal place?  
Not for any mortal sin  
but the wickedness of my abhorrent face!_

He swung Danny around by his arm, slamming him into the musty, stone wall. Danny cringed in pain and began sinking down. The Phantom gripped Danny's shoulders and cried:

_Hounded out by everyone  
Met with hatred everywhere  
No kind words from anyone  
No compassion anywhere!_

When Danny tried to look away, the Phantom gripped his chin and forced it to face him. "Look at me," he growled.

Unwillingly, Danny looked at the Phantom, his cold eyes dark and dense as ever. His breathing was shallow and he was shaking violently. Danny tried to wriggle out of the Phantom's grip but it was no use. Every time he got close, the Phantom just gripped tighter.

Now shaking himself, Danny coughed out his words: "Why do you think?"

"What did you say?" the Phantom hissed.

"Why do you think everyone hates you? You're insane!" Danny cried.

"You know damn well why!" the Phantom shrieked throwing Danny to the ground.

Danny landed on his side. He gripped his ribs in pain from the impact against the stairs.

"You know how I was treated! Why shouldn't those fools suffer?!" the Phantom growled.

"You mean them?!" Danny asked pointed upward. "They're not the ones who tortured you!"

"But they mocked and insulted me!" the Phantom reminded.

"Well…" Danny began.

"Well what?! They had no right!" the Phantom snapped.

"Well you had no right to try and kill them!" Danny shouted, standing up.

The Phantom shoved Danny back down. Crushing Danny into the stair steps with his foot, the Phantom continued talking: "I knew you wouldn't understand."

Using all the strength he could, Danny pushed the Phantom's foot off of him. "Then why did you bring me here?!" he snapped.

The Phantom folded his arms and turned his back on Danny.

"Answer me!" Danny shouted.

The Phantom reeled on him, glaring icy daggers. "P-please," Danny added shakily.

The Phantom took a deep breath. "Because, I needed you to help me bring Christine back," he answered simply.

"That hardly answers my question! And I'm sorry to break it to you, _bucko_, but whether you like it or not, Christine is dead!" Danny shouted.

The Phantom winced. After a long pause, Danny was about to apologize when the Phantom suddenly said: "I know."

Danny's eyes widened. "What?"

"I know she's…dead," the Phantom reiterated.

Danny was practically speechless. "Y-you knew?" he began shakily. "You knew she was dead? You knew _all along_ and you _still_ made me go through with all _this_?! All this _pain _and _suffering JUST_ to bring some chick who you _ALREADY _knew was _DEAD BACK_?!" Danny bursted.

"Yes," the Phantom answered simply.

This was inconceivable. Danny wanted so badly to hit the Phantom, but he had a feeling he would get his hand chopped off for sure if he tried.

"Well, why'd you do it then? Huh?! Why'd you have me try to bring a dead person back?! I don't get it! How could you be so _delusional _that you'd even think for a _second _that…?" Danny was cut off by the Phantom:

"I thought you of all people would know about ghosts."

"Wha-? Okay, so_ first_ you say I _wouldn't_ get it, _now_ you're saying I _do_…I mean I just…" Danny raved.

"Do you _really_ want to know?" the Phantom interrupted.

Danny paused to look at him.

"Do you _really_ want to know why, out of all the others, I choose _you_ to lure Christine's ghost back to me?" the Phantom asked darkly.

"Uh, yeah kinda," Danny said.

The Phantom stared at the lake with glossy eyes. The torch lights danced across the water as the Phantom reminisced:

"I had been hearing tales of a ghost boy known as Danny Phantom in a town called Amity Park. He had conducted quite a bit of talk, and I decided to look into the subject."

Danny arched an eyebrow. He didn't like where this was going. Not bothering to look at him, the Phantom continued:

"From what I had heard, this 'Danny Phantom' was a powerful ghost. Then, I thought of a plan. Bring the ghost boy to the Opera Populaire. Make _him_ sing in my place. Perhaps the songs from the play would bring back memories and bring her back to me.

"But how, was the question. How would I get the boy here? I would have to be stealthy. I carefully crept into the airport and stowed away in the cargo. When I reached Amity Park, I immediately saw a boy with white hair flying overhead. I assumed it must have been the ghost boy. I followed him to a school known as: Casper High.

"Just then, the ghost boy changed. Two blue rings formed around his waist and started moving over his body," the Phantom demonstrated using his own hands. "And suddenly, he became…a human." Turning to face Danny, the Phantom uttered darkly: "You."

Danny froze. "Y-you knew…you knew I was…all along…you knew?!"

"Yes," the Phantom smiled deviously. "It got me thinking, perhaps I could use your human form to my advantage. I overheard the school staff talking about a school play. I wrote them a letter, suggesting the _Phantom of the Opera_. I hoped you would audition, and thanks to your wonderful little friends, you did. After hearing you audition, I knew instantly that _you_ were the one I needed to bring Christine back to me. So I wrote a letter to both Mr. Lancer and the directors convincing them to bring you here. And here you are."

Danny shivered. This was unbelievable.

"I…you…but I….what?!" Danny stammered.

"I was hoping you would be useful, but obviously I was mistaken," the Phantom hissed.

"Why didn't you just try to find Christine's ghost yourself?" Danny asked.

"Every time I went into the graveyard, I could never find her," the Phantom explained.

"Maybe she was just hiding from you," Danny suggested.

"She was NOT hiding from me!" the Phantom snapped.

"What about the man _behind_ the mask?" Danny asked swiping the Phantom's mask clean off his face, accidentally casting it into the lake.

The Phantom gasped, as did Danny when he saw the Phantom's real face. The half of the Phantom's face that Danny saw regularly looked like just any other, perfectly normal face, but the side that had originally been covered by the mask was horribly deformed. His right nostril caved in as did his right cheek causing his cheek bone to protrude out rather far. His right eyebrow was arched in a rather odd position as if it was a pipe cleaner that been bended three times then stretched out slightly. A portion of the Phantom's lower lip was puffy and seemed to hang a bit limply. Danny noticed that the Phantom's nose bone was crocked and the right half of his skin seemed too small to fit his face. It was thin and paler than the other half of his face and seemed to be a faded yellow color.

The Phantom covered the deformed half of his face and growled. Danny took a step back but it wasn't enough to avoid the Phantom's hand striking him across the face.

"_DAMN YOU!"_ the Phantom cried.

_You little preying pretender_

_You little demon_

_Is this what you wanted to see?_

_CURSE YOU!_

_You little lying deceiver _

_You little VIPER_

_Now you can not ever be free!_

_DAMN YOU!_

_CURSE YOU!_

The Phantom threw an unlit candle across the room and shoved a desk to the side, causing everything on it to fall and (for the glass objects at least) break. He ran his fingers through his now mangled black locks of hair then brought his fists down on the organ, creating an earsplitting noise Danny was sure could've been heard by the audience above.

Danny leaned over the stairs to look at his own reflection. He carefully removed his mask to look at his make-up. He gasped, almost loosing grip of his mask. It wasn't that he looked deformed, it just came as a shock to him since he had never bothered to look at himself after the make-up artist finished putting it on. In fact, it looked more like he had been burned or had some really bad acne. It was no where near as horrible as the Phantom's actually face. Danny felt slightly sorry for the Phantom but at this point, he didn't really have an opinion of the Phantom anymore. There were too many ups and downs with this man that Danny felt no need to figure out a solid feeling for him. Still, seeing him hunched over the organ with his face in his hand, possibly crying was enough to make Danny want to at least _try _and comfort him.

Danny walked up to the Phantom and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. The Phantom flinched and reeled his head to glare icily at Danny. From the redness of his eyes, Danny could tell he had been crying. Taking a deep breath, Danny held out his mask. The Phantom stared at it for a second before looking back up at Danny.

"It might be a bit small, but…" Danny explained trying to get the Phantom to take it.

The Phantom shook his head.

"No," he muttered darkly.

"Are you sure?" Danny asked.

"Just leave me," the Phantom hissed.

"But I…" Danny started.

"Get out," the Phantom whispered.

"But…" Danny began again.

"_**GET OUT!!!**_" the Phantom shrieked grabbing his sword and swinging it at Danny.

Before the blade could even touch Danny, he had already reverted to his ghostly form and flown off, leaving the Phantom alone, as requested.

_**But it's not over yet folks XD. Sorry it's been taking so long, I've had WAY too many plot bunnies going on in my head to be able to focus on this story. Also, about the description of the Phantom's face, it's probably not the most accurate description but I tried so…hope it's okay. Well, I'll TRY to update sooner, but until then, hope this'll suffice. R&R w/NO FLAMES please!**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Wow! About frigging time I updated, right? Well, I FINALLY saw the stage version of Phantom of the Opera! –squeal- OMG! It was AMAZING! And helped me get inspiration to finish this dang story T.T Seriously, I've been working on this freaking thing for at least two-ish years! –faint- Well, there are only two chapters left that I must write so…be on the lookout for those 8)**_

_**Enjoy! R&R w/ NO FLAMES please!**_

**Chapter 23: The Phantom's Angel**

Danny didn't know why he kept flying. He could've, no, _should've_ gone back to the theater to see if everyone was okay. Still, something kept him flying. He didn't stop until he reached the graveyard. He landed by a tombstone not much taller than his leg. Fists clenched and teeth barred, Danny swung his foot around and kicked the tombstone. It hurt, but Danny was to upset to care. Now he knew why he didn't go back to the theater, he needed a place to vent.

"Stupid Phantom!" Danny hissed kicking the tombstone harder.

A nearby pebble met with Danny's foot and soared across three tombstones before landing with a _plop_ in the river.

Most of his anger branched from his confusion on how to feel about the Phantom. On one hand, the Phantom had been given grief throughout most of his life and the poor man's face was horribly deformed. On the other hand, he was a psychopath who devised crazy schemes in order to bring a _dead woman_ back to him.

Danny sighed and plopped down on the grass. He ripped a few blades out of the Earth and watched as they carelessly fell from his palm. Suddenly, Danny began to have flashbacks of doing this exact same thing back in preschool. Visions of playing with grass blades, of having not a care in the world. Oh, how Danny wished life could be easy again. Everything had become crazy and wild ever since he started high school.

"Stupid ghost powers," he muttered.

Truly, were it not for his ghost powers, Danny wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. He never would have been discovered by the press, which means the Phantom would've never found out about him, which then meant the school never would have put on the Phantom of the Opera and…

Danny's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a familiar tune being sung. It sounded like one of the songs from the show. Silently, Danny rose from his thinking place and began to walk forward. The singing became louder:

_Passing bells and sculpted angels_

_Cold and monumental_

_Seemed for you the wrong companions_

_You were warm and gentle_

Danny was surprised at how amazing the singer was. Just then, his ghost sense went off. It wasn't possible, could it be?

Seated upon a tombstone labeled _Christine Daae_ sat a ghostly woman with curly brown hair that reached the center of her spine. She wore a lacey white dress and peach colored ballet slippers. A bright red rose was tucked behind her ear. Danny remembered he had seen her before, the previous time he had gone into the graveyard:

_Too many years fighting back tears_

_Why can't the past just die?_

_Wishing you were somehow here again_

_Knowing we must say goodbye_

_Try to forgive_

_Teach me to live_

_Give me the strength to try_

_No more memories_

_No more silent tears_

_No more gazing across the wasted years_

_Help me say goodbye_

_Help me say_

_Goodbye_

Completely unaware of what he was doing, Danny began to clap. The woman flinched and almost fell off the tombstone.

"Oh, sorry!" Danny apologized.

The woman arched an eyebrow.

"Uh…Christine?" Danny asked.

There was a short silence before the woman spoke: "Do I know you?"

"No, but you know the Phantom of the Opera, right?" Danny asked.

Christine sighed. "Please, don't remind me of that..._monster_."

"Gee, that's nice of you," Danny spat. The Phantom was definitely a whack-job but Danny hardly thought the term _monster_ constituted as an appropriate nick-name.

"Have you met him?" Christine asked.

"Yeah. And he's a crazy psychopath who needs some serious help but isn't calling him a monster a little much?" Danny asked.

Christine sighed and rested her cheek against her palm. "I suppose. But…he's so…he just…"

"Has issues that need to be sorted out through therapy?" Danny finished.

Christine glided off the edge of the tombstone. "I wish I could forgive him, but he's done so much wrong." She sighed again. Still, I…"

Danny placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're confused about how to feel about him too, huh?" he asked.

"Yes," Christine answered in a whisper.

They stood in silence. In the distance, Danny could hear some frantic cries coming from the Opera House. He sighed. He should go back.

"I-I don't know what to think…" Christine said breaking the silence. "I tried to erase him from my mind…"

"Oh…sorry…" Danny sunk into his shoulders.

"It's alright," Christine said gently brushing Danny's hand off of her shoulder. "I just…"

There was another long silence. More distant screaming. Danny wanted to fly back, but when Christine began to speak again, he stood still.

"I left him. And he said…"

"That he loved you," Danny finished remembering the ending scene.

"Yes," Christine said.

"And you left him," Danny stated.

"He tried to kill Raoul," Christine reminded choking on her words.

"Pff, Raoul's a loser," Danny chuckled to himself. From what he recalled of Raoul he didn't see much reason to sympathize with the fop.

Christine glared at Danny. Danny froze and quickly said: "I didn't say that!"

Christine sighed. "I-I almost want to apologize to him but…"

"But _what_? He's in the labyrinth. Come on!" Danny said grabbing Christine's hand and dragging her off. Perhaps this was what the Phantom needed. Maybe this would stop his psychotic schemes.

"No! I…he might try and control me," Christine cried.

"Okay, you need to get your priorities straight, woman!" Danny said.

"You're confused about him as well, aren't you?" Christine retorted.

"Yeah! But at least _I_ left when he _wanted_ me to," Danny smirked.

Christine narrowed her eyes in on Danny. "I don't like you."

"Yeah, I get that a lot from ghosts," Danny sighed.

"Tell me…eh…" Christine began.

"Danny…Phantom," Danny answered realizing in an instant using his alter ego last name wouldn't help his situation as Christine cringed at the word 'Phantom'.

"Alright…'Danny'…why do _you_ think I should apologize to him?" Christine asked.

"Well, the Phantom's a murderous raving lunatic and you kinda contribute to it," Danny said. Seeing the offended look on Christine's face, Danny explained. "I mean, he's doing it partly as revenge but it's probably anger that you left him and don't want him and…"

Not surprisingly, Danny was beginning to feel sympathy towards the Phantom again.

Christine was obviously being impacted as well. "I-ugh-I suppose I could…try…I…"

Danny released the soprano's hand. "It's your choice."

Both Raoul and the Phantom had asked so much of her, Danny recalled from the script. Why should he work her up anymore? She was already dead after all, why add more suffering to her afterlife?

Christine stood silent. Danny nodded his head and began to fly off. Suddenly, he felt someone grip his shoulder. It was Christine. Danny smiled and the two ghosts flew off to the labyrinth.

_**To be honest I think the dynamic between Danny and Christine could've been better but honestly, I don't know how else this could've been written so…you're kinda stuck with this…sorry. Lol**_

_**Well, I hope you at least liked this chapter a little bit ;) Read and review w/no flames please!**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Okay, so I started this story back in May of 2007. I last updated this story November of 2009. I just now am posting the final chapter in 2012. I am the laziest person alive. I doubt most of you reading this now are the original readers from back when I first started posting this story but if any of you are, I am so sorry. I literally have no excuse other than sheer laziness. But I will admit, I'm actually glad this went down the way it did. I've improved my writing skills quite a lot since I first started this story. This may not be the most uplifting ending, but it's what I feel makes a proper ending to the story. If you don't like it, I apologize, but I can't please everyone. So, without further ado, here's the final (finally) chapter of Danny Phantom of the Opera. I hope you enjoy. **_

**Chapter 24: It's Over Now, the Music of the Night**

The Phantom was still hunched over his organ when Danny and Christine arrived. Even without seeing his face, Christine was still mortified just being in her old teacher's presence.

"I still can't believe he's alive," Christine whispered.

"Elixir of life, apparently," Danny said.

Christine watched from behind the stone archway as the Phantom rose from his seat.

"Go talk to him," Danny said.

"About what?" Christine asked.

Danny didn't have an answer. He had been so hell bent on getting Christine there just to be there that he didn't even consider what she would say to the Phantom.

Danny shrugged awkwardly and said: "Not sure. Just…talk to him, I guess. About how you feel…maybe."

Christine rolled her eyes. Danny snorted. "You must have something to say, otherwise you wouldn't have come."

Christine bowed her head and slowly emerged from her hiding place. The Phantom turned and flinched at the sight of her. Danny saw a look in the Phantom's eyes that he had never seen before. The Phantom seemed overwhelmed with joy, sadness, fear. He was paralyzed in Christine's presence.

"Chri-Christine…"

Christine's lip quivered but she otherwise hid her fear. "I heard you've been looking for me."

The Phantom's knees gave way and he crumbled into himself. "I love you. I've never stopped loving you."

"I see," Christine said. She was hovering over the Phantom and looking down on him. Danny found it an unsettling site. "I thought you had set me free."

"I-," the Phantom was at a loss for words. "I let you be with…_him_. I let you live your life. I was left alone, with no one. After you died, I was lonelier than ever. I-I wasn't going to die without you! I…" He paused to catch his breath and wipe away a few tears. "So when I found the elixir of life, I took it. I needed to find you again. I needed to be happy!"

"But what if I wasn't happy?" Christine asked. "What if I didn't want you back? That wouldn't be fair to either of us. If I don't love you, _I_ won't be happy, and if I don't love you, _you_ won't be happy."

Danny ran his fingers through his hair and bit his lip. If Christine left, what would the point have been? He would've brought her here for no reason. Nothing would be resolved. This wasn't happening. Danny wanted to intervene, say something. There had to be something he could say to make Christine want to stay with the Phantom, or at least say she loved him, or something.

"What must I do?" the Phantom pleaded. "what must I do to win your love?"

Christine suddenly came down to the Phantom's level. The pathetic look in the Phantom's eyes seemed to melt her fear away.

"What can you do?" It was a serious question. She didn't know. "You can't bring back those you've killed. They may be ghosts, like me, but you can't give them back their lives."

"I'm sorry, Christine," the Phantom said falling to his knees. He reached out to hold her hand, but it was in vein. She was an apparition; he could not touch her. Unlike Danny, she was not able to become tangible.

"I'm sorry," said Christine. "I'm sorry that this is the life you've lived. I'm sorry I can't bring myself to forgive you. I'm sorry I can't give you anything."

She placed her hand on the Phantom's deformed cheek. He couldn't feel it, but knowing her hand was on his face brought him to tears once more. He tried to take her hand again, but couldn't. She began to slip away. She was about to fly away, through the ceiling, when Danny bolted out from his hiding place.

"STOP! WAIT!"

The Phantom and Christine both turned to face him. He was frozen in mid air with his arms outstretched. Danny knew he looked like an idiot, but he didn't care.

"You-you can't leave!" Danny said helplessly. "You just…can't."

Christine began to float down towards him.

"What are _you_ doing here?" the Phantom asked venomously.

"I brought Christine here. I thought that this would make everything better. I really did. I wanted to help!" Danny said running his fingers through his hair again. "Ugh! You can't leave! Not after all this!"

"All this?" Christine asked. She drew closer to Danny and spoke to him barely above a whisper. The ghostly echo in her voice sent shivers up Danny's spine. "What is 'all this'? All you've gone through? I've dealt with him already. Why are really doing this? Do you care, or do you want to be free?"

Danny wrinkled his nose. "I-both. I mean…"

He looked over at the Phantom. Christine had gotten so close to Danny it almost looked like they would kiss. That familiar look of rage appeared in the Phantom's eyes. Danny slowly moved back.

"I don't want this to be it," Danny answered finally. "I don't want everything I've gone through to be meaningless."

"Maybe it hasn't been," Christine said.

"How?" Danny asked. "How does anything he's put me through…"

Danny's voice had risen and the Phantom heard. "I wanted you to bring me Christine!"

Christine turned to face him.

"And you did," the Phantom said. "You did what I asked."

Danny was still not satisfied. What a polarizing character the Phantom was. Danny couldn't get a solid feeling for this man. He had always been able to distinguish whether someone was good or bad just off of their actions. That's how it worked with the ghosts he met. Perhaps this was what he got out of the experience. A challenge. Someone to challenge his perception of good and evil. But was it really that simple? Was that really all he got out of it? It just seemed like an excuse to get out of the labyrinth; to say that he had received something positive out of this experience.

He could still hear frantic screams from above. It sounded like a search was going on looking for him whilst Gerald and Bernard were trying to calm down the audience and assure them that the star of the show would be back soon. Danny wondered how long this had been going on. He needed to get back.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave. He didn't want it to be over. He didn't want to just leave Christine and the Phantom alone. He had to see if anything else would happen between them. After all, Christine hadn't left yet.

"I-Christine. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," the Phantom said. "Are-are you peaceful in death?"

Christine nodded. "It's the most peaceful I've felt in years."

"Where you not happy with…_him_?" the Phantom asked, hopefully.

"I was," Christine said. Noticing the crestfallen look on the Phantom's face, she added: "It wasn't perfect. But I was happy."

The Phantom nodded with a stiffened face. Christine glided over to the Phantom. The Phantom placed his hands on either side of her cheeks. He gently touched his fingers to her translucent face and even though he could not touch her, he smiled at what was technically contact. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time. Danny put his face in his hands. They all knew what would happen next. The Phantom relished in the moment he had with Christine who was willing enough to smile warmly at him while she was there. And then she kissed him. It was awkward for Danny to watch since her lips seemed to go through the Phantom but he seemed so happy. When the part, Christine asked: "How long does that elixir last?"

"It lasts ten years at a time. By next year, I will need to find another vile," the Phantom said. Danny was disturbed how nonchalant the Phantom said that. It was almost as if he didn't want another vile.

"Perhaps I will see you then. But for now…" Christine began.

"I understand," the Phantom said.

Danny leaned back on the stone archway as Christine rose into the air. Before she left, she went to Danny. "Thank you," was all she said before phasing through the ceiling.

Danny yelped swung his fist into the wall. The Phantom was startled. Danny looked at him. "And you're not mad?" Danny asked.

"I don't understand," the Phantom said.

"SHE LEFT! She left and you're fine! She left and you're not beat up over it? I thought you wanted her back! I thought that's what all this crap was for! WHY AREN'T YOU UPSET?" Danny was shaking violently, his eyes glowing brightly.

The Phantom sat on the floor. He wrapped his arms around his legs and said: "I wanted to see her again. I suppose that's all I really wanted. I wanted to see her smile at me."

"But she doesn't love you!" Danny said through gritted teeth. "That wasn't a real smile! She hates you! You ruined her life!"

The Phantom held back his tears. "I did," he said. "And I admitted it to her. And 'm so sorry for everything I've done."

"Was that before or after you sucked me into this?" Danny asked fiercely.

The Phantom sighed. "After. I kept out of everyone's life before, but I just felt..." he began to shake. "…so lonely. So cripplingly lonely. I wanted her again. I wasn't ready to leave this Earth without her. Without seeing her smile at me. That one day, when I heard her sing in the graveyard. When I saw a flicker of her face there. That-that burning desire came back and I just…everything went wrong. I went wrong. When she first left me…the look in her eyes. When she kissed me…she didn't love me."

"She still doesn't."

"But she did it for me."

"It was out of pity."

"I prefer pity. When she first kissed me, it was to save…_him_. It wasn't…or maybe it was…" The Phantom looked down at his hideous reflection in the lake.

Maybe she had done it out of pity. Danny remembered the line in the song being "God gave me courage to show you, you are not alone."

"But when she left…when she gave me back the…" the Phantom reached into his vest pocket and produced a wedding ring. The sight of it sent waves of painful memories throughout his frame and he closed his hand around the thing. "At least now…at least now I know she's been happy. That she had felt freedom. That she had time to recover from whatever wounds I had caused her. Before, she was trying to escape from me. Now, she could leave whenever she pleased. And she did. But not before showing me some compassion. _Compassion_. It didn't have to be love. And if she feels even a little _compassio_n, then maybe when we meet again…

"Maybe she still hates me, but not as much as she did. She knows I'm sorry. She knows I'm pathetic. I'm sorry I brought you into this."

Danny floated down and landed beside the Phantom.

"I shouldn't have brought you here. I shouldn't have put you through this. I shouldn't have killed…"

Danny folded his arms. The Phantom looked so small now. So pathetic. But Danny's heart went out to him. Danny thought back to what the Phantom had said about the elixir.

"Are you going to go on living like this?" Danny asked.

"No," the Phantom said. "It would benefit everyone if I didn't. Besides, my time should have come ages ago." He laughed bitterly. "I saw her smile at me. That's all I wanted. She seems freer now. Happier. She doesn't hate me as much." Danny felt like the Phantom wasn't even holding a conversation with him anymore. He was just talking to himself. He looked up at Danny with his dark blue eyes and said. "I know I was wrong to put you through this, but thank you for everything you've done."

Danny pressed his lips together until they were as white as his hair. "It was rough but…you're welcome."

He extended his hand and the Phantom took it. They didn't shake hands, they just held them. Danny felt an odd understanding of the Phantom. He didn't agree with him, but he felt he understood. He had so much pain in his heart.

"I hope everything works out, y'know, if you ever see Christine again," Danny said, his voice trembling.

"Thank you," the Phantom mouthed the words.

They released each other's hands and Danny looked up at the ceiling. Collecting himself, Danny said: "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a play to finish."

The Phantom chuckled and looked down at his feet. "Break a leg."

Danny gave a small smile, picked up his Phantom mask off the floor, and flew off. He wound up back stage. In the shadows, he reverted back to his human form and put on his mask. He stepped out on stage and whistled. Everyone turned around to see him. Danny took a deep breath:

"Don't worry!" he began. "Crazed fan. Wanted to take my part, y'know? Crazy stuff."

There was an awkward collection of laughter from the remaining audience members.

"But don't worry, he, uh, the police caught him, so it's all good," Danny added quickly.

Danny could see that his family and friends were still there and relived to see he was alright. Gerald and Bernard were equally relived and rushed to the stage. They patted Danny on the back and one of them pulled him into a crushing hug but Danny couldn't tell who it was.

"Bernard, call off the search party," Gerald said and Danny realized it was Bernard who was hugging him once he was released from his grip. "Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, the show will go on!"

The audience members who were standing sat back down. Danny noticed most of the players were gone, probably having fled. There were still a few ensemble members left, including all the important main characters. Jen rushed onto the stage and hugged Danny. Danny hugged his Christine as Gerald instructed the conductor to go from the top of Don Juan Triumphant. Jen and Danny rushed off stage. The songs wasn't nearly as powerful as the first time the audience heard it due to the dwindled cast.

"So you're alright? He didn't hurt you? Did he really kill Henry?" Jen asked frantically in the wings.

"I'll explain later," Danny said. "You're on." He gave her a gentle nudge and Jen waltzed out on stage.

The rest of the show went on without a hitch. When the final scene came and when Jen kissed him on the cheek (she was older than him and Gerald and Bernard knew better than to let an older woman kiss an under-aged young man on the lips), Danny couldn't help but feel overwhelmed after the events in the labyrinth.

When the show ended, Jen told him it was his most engaging performance. Danny smiled uncomfortably, knowing that his lack of engagement before had stemmed from only learning his lines and not understanding the character enough. That had all changed.

"Danny!" Tucker cried.

He and Sam rushed to Danny in the lobby, Sam holding flowers.

"You did awesome!" Sam said as she and Tucker threw themselves onto Danny to hug him. "Sorry about the crazy fan."

"Yeah, man. Everyone started flipping out! They actually thought that was the real Phantom of the Opera!" Tucker said.

Danny laughed.

"Danny!" his family rushed to him. Jazz thrust a bouquet of flowers into her brother's arms. Danny felt overwhelmed with all the flowers he was now holding. "You were so good!" Jazz said hugging him.

"You were fabulous, honey! Maddie said pinching Danny's uncovered cheek. Danny had put his mask back on for the bows.

"Yeah, I had no idea you could sing! There were a couple of parts where you went a little flat, but you had such a ghostly, haunting sound to your voice that it sounded great anyway," Jack said.

Ghostly and haunting, huh? So perhaps that's why he was able to sing so well, there was a ghostly moan to his voice that made him sound good. Danny wasn't sure how to feel about that, On one hand it meant that this was an upside to having ghost powers, on the other hand it meant he probably would've sucked at singing had it not been for them.

"So, Danny. What do you think about what Mr. Lancer said?" Tucker asked.

"Wait, what?" Danny asked.

"Remember when he first told us we were doing the play at school. He said he could totally see you playing the Phantom and you didn't know if you should be insulted about it. What do you think of that comment now that you've stepped into the Phantom's shoes?" Tucker asked.

Danny's lower lip jutted out as he thought about it. "I can honestly say I'm a little bit insulted. I haven't had to deal with half the heartache he has," was his answer.

Tucker and Sam gave a look of "Hmm…yeah, okay" and left it at that. Jazz was quick to add: "Plus, you're not a crazy murderer."

Danny smirked. "Yeah, that too."

Somewhere in the crowd of people was Meg. She smiled and nodded at Danny. She passed by Danny, patted him on the back, and said: "Well done." Something in Danny's gut told him she wasn't talking about his performance.

He suddenly felt something hit the back of his head. Whatever it was fell into his hand. It was a rose. A red rose with a black ribbon tied around the stem. Through all the chattering in the lobby, Danny could hear the Phantom's voice: "Bravo, bravo, bravissimo."

Danny looked up and saw a cloaked man make his way back to box five. Danny smiled. "Thank you," he mouthed.

**THE END**

_**And that's it folks! At last, I have finished this story! It's not perfect, but I promise, despite my laziness with the updating, I put my all into it. I hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions about the story, feel free to ask. Have a wonderful day.**_

_**-Alex **_


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